Future Dragon: Rose Long Season Six
by Fudogg
Summary: Season 6 of 10. Rose meets the leader of the team and a new enemy, while the other members of the team get some time in the spotlight.
1. Chapter 1

Future Dragon: Rose Long (Season Six)

**Disclaimer: I don't own Am Drag. Just my OCs and the storylines.**

Chapter/Episode One: Lono

Rose and Cherri were both facing each other, standing in their human forms around the corner of Lono's building. "Should I be nervous?" Rose asked as she slowly brought a hand up and brought it through her hair.

"I can say that I was nervous when I first met him." Cherri shrugged. "But maybe that was because I didn't know how he'd react to a dragon that was supposed to be locked up in a cell on the team."

"I was a dragon slayer." Rose replied with a small smile.

"Relax, Rose." Cherri smiled. "You have nothing to be worried about. Lono is a very nice guy."

"Hope so." Rose said, just as Savannah turned around from around the corner.

Putting her hands inside her pockets, Savannah smiled and stared at Rose and Cherri's discussion for about five seconds before she spoke up: "The boss man doesn't want to wait all day!" She said jokingly, causing Rose to turn around as quickly as she could, Cherri stepping up at her side.

"In all seriousness, Rose..." Savannah said. "...Lono's a great dragon. You'll love him."

A few seconds later, Savannah stepped into the building, shocked to see that the lights were on. As Savannah walked to the center of the room, Rose stepped inside, followed by Cherri, who then stepped up to Rose's side.

"Rose, meet Lono." Savannah said as she stepped to the side, allowing Rose to see the back of a chair, which quickly spun around, revealing a male Redwood-colored dragon who smiled at her. There was nothing too extraordinary about Lono's appearance; the only thing that stood out was around his neck. He wore a medallion like the others on the team, only it was bigger and looked fancier.

"Hello, Rose." He spoke in a kind tone.

"Hi, sir." Rose said politely.

"Savannah..." Lono glanced over to his side and Savannah. "...Cherri..." He looked at Cherri. "...Please leave. I want to talk to Rose alone."

"Yes, sir." Savannah said politely as she turned to face Rose, walking toward her and then passed her as Cherri turned around and started toward the exit.

"Come closer, Rose." Lono said.

A little nervous, Rose gave a stiff nod and started to slowly make her way toward Lono, finally stopping in front of him.

"You look like you're ready for a workout." Lono smiled.

"I was before all this happened."

"Yes, about that..." Lono continued to smile as he crossed his scaly arms. "...Naturally, I want this scumbag to be found."

"That's why I was kidnapped, yes." Rose gave him a small smile.

"I hope that wasn't too hard on you." Lono replied. "Were Cherri and Joel a little too rough?"

"It's in the past." Rose told him as she took a slow step back. "What matters now is that I'm here."

"That's what I like to hear." Lono smiled.

"Is this what you wanted to talk about?" Rose asked curiously. "Savannah said that you wanted to talk to me."

"In fact I do want to talk to you." Lono said, Rose taking another slow step back as Lono slowly stood up. "And there is something I do want to talk to you about. There is a precise subject."

"What that?" Rose asked.

"Your work today." Lono smiled. "You've been here long enough to realize that I haven't really been around for my team."

"Uh, what exactly do you mean by that?" Rose asked.

"I haven't been showing my face, Rose." Lono said. "I haven't been around. Savannah has been taking care of everything."

"She's your second, right?" Rose asked. "You're her boss, but she's the boss of everyone else, right?"

"Pretty much." Lono nodded as he smiled. "But the fact is, Rose..." He continued as his smile vanished. "...There is a reason why I haven't been showing my face."

"And that reason is?"

"I've been very down lately." Lono said as he crossed his scaly arms. "But today, you really cheered me up."

"I did that just by catching someone who tried to get the dirt on me?" Rose raised an eyebrow.

"Yes, because that is an accomplishment!" Lono told her. "A lot of the time, things don't get done here."

"You can say that again." Rose replied.

"You got something done, Rose." Lono smiled. "You may have caught someone who knows about your the murder of your parents."

"But now I'll never know." Rose said. "The prisoner is dead. I can't interrogate her now. I don't understand why you're so happy. We've accomplished nothing. The whole day was wasted if you ask me."

"Trust me, Rose." Lono smiled. "Something good will come out of this. Now..." He said as he turned around and stepped back over to his chair, turning back around to face Rose and sitting down. "...I think we've had our little meeting discussion. We'll pick this up during dinner."

"Yes, sir." Rose said politely.

Rose then slowly turned around and slowly started to walk toward the door. As soon as Rose had exited the room, Lono's smile once again faded. Sighing, he dropped his head so he was looking down at his lap.

"I wish I could tell you more, Rose..." He muttered.

BLACKOUT; COMMERCIAL

BACK TO THE STORY/SHOW

Later that night, Rose was sitting on one side of the dining room table, now wearing her normal clothes, while Savannah and Cherri sat on the other side. As Rose toyed with a fork, Savannah asked: "So, how was your meeting with Lono, Rose?"

"It was nothing special." Rose said honestly as she set down the fork.

"What, you didn't like him?" Cherri asked.

"He was a fine enough guy." Rose said. "It just wasn't an amazing talk."

"What did he talk to you about?" Cherri asked.

"How about I talk about that during dinner?" Came the voice of Lono from the doorway.

Quickly, both Savannah and Cherri turned their heads to the side while it took Rose a little longer; they both could see the smiling Lono standing in the doorway. Then, Lono walked into the room and walked around the table, passing Rose from behind and making it to his seat, sitting down.

"So, Rose..." Lono said as he leaned into the table, placing his scaly arms on the table. "...There's something that I-"

"Hold that thought." Rose said as she slowly started to get up from the table. "I have to wash my hands before dinner." Rose said as she slowly walked passed Lono, making her way toward the kitchen. "I'll be right back."

"Has she been hanging out with Lexy a lot?" Lono joked.

"No." Cherri said as she and Savannah turned their heads to the side to look at him.

"Is she gone?" Lono asked. "Is she doing her business?"

"Yeah." Cherri answered.

"I want to ask you two something." Lono said. "There's something I really want to-"

However, before Lono could finish talking, he was cut off as the sound of Lista's voice rang through the room: "Lono?!"

Lista was standing in the doorway in her dragon form, her medallion around her neck and her eyes wide. "Lono, what are you doing? You haven't eaten with us since Rose came here!"

"I know, Lista." Lono gave the youngest member of the team a smile. "But I can promise you now that I am back."

A short time later, everyone was sitting at the table in their human forms, even Lono, eating their dinner. "So..." Lono said as soon as he swallowed the food that was in his mouth. "...I met Rose today and I was telling her just how proud of her I was."

"Why would you be proud of her?" Gilda asked in a deadpan note as she lowered her fork.

"The rest of you probably haven't heard..." Lono said, smiling. "...Maybe Savannah just didn't get around to telling you..."

"Yes, it's all my fault..." Savannah said sarcastically with a small smile on her face as she held up her drink. "...I apologize, everyone. You can execute me for the high crime of treason after dinner."

"...Anyway..." Lono broke back in as Cherri, Arkadi and Rose both chuckled at Savannah. "...You probably haven't heard that Rose, Cherri and Savannah arrested someone today. They actually did something. They actually went out and did something."

"That's the only way that you'll be able to get out and find a crime to solve around here." Cherri said as she turned her head to the side.

"Yeah, it's too bad that we don't have resources like the Dragon Council." Savannah said in a sarcastic tone as she set down her drink. However, unlike the last time she spoke, which was in a joking manner, these words came out as bitter and hateful, making Rose pale slightly.

"We're getting off topic here." Lono said after he had swallowed his food again. "The fact of the matter is that something has been accomplished."

"You said that already." Gilda turned her head to the side.

"Unfortunately, we'll never know now that the prisoner has died..." Lono said. "...But maybe, just maybe...we've moved forward and are one step closer to catching the one who killed Rose's parents."

LINE BREAK

After dinner, Savannah was lying on her bed with her hand on her stomach, her eyes closed, her medallion removed from around her neck and the light off. However, as the door creaked open, Savannah slowly opened her eyes and turned her head to the side, seeing Lono stepping inside.

"Yeah, Lono?" Savannah asked.

"I wanted to ask you something." Lono said as he took another step inside. "I wanted to ask you this before dinner, but Lista came in before I could."

"Why didn't you ask it during dinner?"

"It's not something you can ask at the dinner table, Savannah."

"Okay..." Savannah replied, confused.

"I need to tell Rose something, but I don't know how." Lono said as he crossed his arms.

"YOU don't know how?" Savannah asked, completely confused. "You of all people...don't know how to tell someone who works for you something. What's she going to do? I mean, no offence to Rose, but have you seen the way she moves?"

"The way?"

"The speed at which she moves." Savannah said as she rolled over onto her side. "She's like a snail. She won't be able to hurt you, if that's what you're thinking."

"That's not what I'm thinking at all." Lono said.

Sighing, Savannah picked herself up so that she was sitting up, kicking her feet over the edge of the bed and setting them down on the floor. "Then what are you thinking?" She asked.

"It's just a sensitive subject." Lono replied. "I'm afraid at how she'll react."

"What's the subject?" Savannah asked as she stood up. "What are you going to tell her?"

"It's sensitive, Savannah."

"Well..." Savannah said as she put her hands on her hips. "...It really depends. I would honestly just come out and tell her what you need to tell her."

LINE BREAK

The next morning, Rose, who was wearing her workout clothes, grunted as she was on the floor, slowly going down on her push up. However, before she could push herself up, she slowly lifted her head up and slowly turned it to the side as she heard the first of five knocks against her door.

"Just a second!" Rose called in an annoyed tone as she slowly turned her head back to normal.

Grunting, Rose slowly got up to her feet and then slowly straightened up. "Hold on!" Rose called as she slowly turned to the side, another three knocks hitting her door.

Making it to the door, Rose opened it and slowly stepped back as she saw that it was Lono, in his dragon form, at the door. "Good morning, Rose." Lono smiled at her.

"Good morning..." Rose mumbled back.

"There's something that I want to tell you." Lono took Savannah's advice and got right to the point as he took a step inside, Rose countering by taking a slow step back.

"How long have you needed to tell me this?" Rose asked.

"Well..."

"You could have told me this last night, huh?"

"Yes, I could have." Lono said honestly. "I just-"

"Did you really have to wait until this morning?" Rose asked as she took a step forward. "I'm in the middle of something important. You can tell me at breakfast. If you'll excuse me, I need to finish my workout."

"That's it?" Lono asked, smiling. "That's what's so important?"

"Yeah..." Rose slowly put her hands on her hips. "...Yes, it's important."

"Well, why don't I just come with you?" Lono replied. "We can work out together and I can tell you what I need to."

LINE BREAK

Sighing, Rose walked alongside Lono, the two of them slowly walked along the grass. "You know, this could have waited until breakfast..." Rose said. "...Shouldn't the rest of the team hear about this, too?"

"Actually, Rose..." Lono said as the two of them stopped walking forward, turning his head to the side so that he was looking at the side of her head. "...This is just going to be between you and me."

"Why?" Rose asked as she slowly turned her head to the side. "Why are you keeping this away from all of your subordinates except for me?"

"It doesn't apply to them, Rose." Lono said.

"Is it about my parents?" Rose asked as she slowly turned to the side.

"Yes, yes it is."

"Then I don't understand why this just applies to me." Rose told him right before she slowly turned back to normal. Then, with a grunt, Rose slowly started to jog off, making the now surprised Lono turn his head back to normal.

"Hey, wait!" He called as he started to jog after her, finally catching up to the now panting woman. "I need to tell you-"

"Please, no disrespect..." Rose told him. "...But can I just finish my run in peace?"

This comment surprised Lono so much that he unconsciously stopped running, standing still while Rose continued to slowly jog away. "Thank you!" Lono could hear Rose call as she got farther away.

"Yeah, well..." Lono shouted at her. "...If you would just let me tell you what I need to tell you, you wouldn't need to tell me to go away! I'd just leave you alone! I'd go away!"

BLACKOUT; COMMERCIAL

BACK TO THE STORY/SHOW

A short time later, Rose, who was now wearing her normal clothes and who was moving with much more ease after her morning exercise, made her way toward the dining room.

Stepping in through the doorway, Rose found that everyone, including Lono, was there. Even more, as Rose stepped inside, they all looked at her.

"Sorry for being late." Rose said.

"It's okay, Rose." Lono told her.

As soon as Rose sat down at her place at the bench, she looked down at her breakfast, which was starting to get cold. However, Rose ignored this as she looked up. "You can tell me whatever you need to now, Lono." She said.

"I told you that it only concerns you." Lono narrowed his eyes.

"But I think the rest of the team should know if it has to deal with my parents."

"It does?" Savannah asked as she looked up. "It has to deal with our mission?" She asked as she turned her head to the side. "Lono, is this true?"

Lono, whose eyes were narrowed, mentally growled as he saw that every member of his team was now looking at him.

"Do you know something?" Lista asked.

"Why can't you tell us all?" Cherri asked. "I don't think it could hurt."

"It has nothing to do with any of you!" Lono finally growled as he slammed his fist on the table. "The only member of this team that it concerns is Rose."

"But maybe it would be for the better if we all knew." Lexy suggested.

"No, I don't think so." Lono said as he took his hand off of the table. "This is strictly between Rose and I."

Sighing, Rose turned her head back to normal and picked up her fork, preparing to eat.

LINE BREAK

Rose opened the door to her room and continued inside, closing the door behind her. However, before the door could fully close, there came a thud as something hit the door, making Rose turn around, watching as the door was pushed open, Savannah stepping inside.

"Yeah?" Rose asked.

"About breakfast..." Savannah said as she stopped walking inside, putting her hands in her pockets. "...And Lono..."

"Do you think he's mad at me?"

"Doubt it." Savannah said. "Lono's not like that."

"He doesn't lose his temper?"

"No." Savannah said. "For as long as I have known him, he has always been calm and passive. He gives me orders, but he's never been too strict. This is the first time I-any of us-have seen Lono lose his temper."

"I guess I just have the magic ability of changing people." Rose joked as she crossed her arms.

"Maybe." Savannah said. "Rose, his attitude changed the day that your parents died."

"Really?" Rose asked, her eyes widening.

"Since that day, he's been hiding..." Savannah pulled her hands out of her pockets. "...He kept away from us all. Then yesterday, he finally came out of hiding."

"That's very interesting..." Rose said as she started to walk backwards, heading toward her bed. "...But..." She continued right before she reached the side of her bed and sat down. "...I don't think you came here just to tell me that."

"You're right." Savannah said as she wrapped her arms around her stomach. "I wanted to ask you about Lono."

"What about him?" Rose asked. "I don't know anything about him. The only thing I do know is that he seems to have a bad habit of pestering me."

"Pestering?"

"He keeps on trying to talk to me." Rose said. "I mean, I know that he wants to tell me something that he deems important, but it's getting kind of annoying. This morning, he even wanted to go for a run with me so we could talk."

"Uh-huh..." Savannah said, listening.

"Of course, then he stops following me..." Rose said as she stood up. "...So I try to tell him that he can tell me what he needs to during breakfast."

"He didn't want to tell us." Savannah said. "Lono made it clear that what he needs to tell you is between you and him."

"Do you have any idea where Lono is?" Rose asked.

"He's probably out looking for you." Savannah answered.

"Well..." Rose said as she sat back down on the bed. "...I'm going to be in here for awhile. If you find Lono, can you tell him that I'll be in here? He'll know where to find me."

LINE BREAK

Savannah turned around the corner of Lono's building and made her way to the closed door before she turned so she could knock on the door. "Come in." She heard Lono's voice after the second knock.

Quickly, Savannah lowered her hand down to the knob and turned it, pushing the door open and stepping inside, finding Lono in his dragon form, sitting in his chair.

"Oh, it's you." Lono sounded disappointed.

"Expecting Rose, huh?" Savannah asked as she walked forward, finally stopping in front of her superior.

"I would be lying if I told you that I wasn't expecting and hoping you to be Rose, yes."

"She's in her room." Savannah said, putting her arms behind her back. "I was just there and I just finished talking to her."

"Will she be there?"

"She said that she would be there for awhile." Savannah answered. "So yes. Yes she will be there."

His smile returning, Lono grunted as he stood up from his chair. "Glad to hear that." Lono said as he took a step forward. "Oh." He added as he held up a clawed finger. "Before I forget, Savannah, I was in the middle of hatching up a plan for tomorrow when you entered."

"What kind of plan?" Savannah asked, interested. "Does it have to do with solving this case?"

"It can, but not necessarily." Lono told her. "How many times has this team gone out to look for clues so we can solve this?"

"A few times." Savannah answered.

"Not nearly enough times." Lono's smile widened. "Why don't you come with me, Savannah? I'll tell you about my idea on the way to Rose's."

LINE BREAK

"So what's your plan?" Savannah asked as she and a now human Lono walked along the grass.

"Tomorrow, we're all going to go out as a team." Lono said with a smile. "And we're going to find a crime-any type of crime-and solve it. That's what we're supposed to do."

"I like it, Lono." Savannah said.

"Glad." Lono responded. "And maybe if we're lucky, we'll find something that will bring us closer to finding out who killed Rose's parents."

"We'll have to search far from here, Lono." Savannah said. "Rose has searched locally. We haven't found anything."

"Well, we'll be gone all day." Lono smiled. "Maybe we'll make it pretty far..."

By this time, they had both reached Rose's room. Walking up to the door, Lono grabbed the knob and turned it, pushing the door open and stepping inside, followed by Savannah. With Savannah now at his side, Lono looked into the room, his eyes widening as he saw that Rose was lying on her side, asleep.

"She's asleep?!" Lono asked in disbelief.

"Shh." Savannah said softly as she put her hand on Lono's shoulder. "Don't wake her up."

Sighing, Lono shook his head once before he turned his head to the side to look at Savannah, who in turn turned her head to the side to look at him. "Let's go." He told her.

Walking out of Rose's room, Lono spoke to Savannah: "Maybe that was for the best. You would have had to have left if she had been awake."

"You want me for something?"

"It's not that I want something." Lono explained. "I need you to do something for me, Savannah."

"What?"

"It's about my plan for the team tomorrow."

"What?" Savannah repeated.

"I want you to make a list." Lono explained. "I want everyone on this team to be broken into groups of two. I don't care who you team up with who, I only demand that you pair me up with Rose."

"So you can tell her what you need to tell her?" Savannah smiled. "Got it."

"I'm glad that I can always count on you." Lono said proudly while Savannah stopped in her tracks, her smile gone while Lono continued on.

"Lono?" She asked, making Lono stop and slowly turn around. Sighing as she put her hands in her pockets, Savannah continued: "Why don't you want any of us to know this one thing? Why just Rose?"

"Savannah..."

"Does it have to do with what you saw?" Savannah asked. "You saw it happen. Why don't you want us to know?"

"Savannah..." Lono took a step back. "...In due time. You will know in due time. I'm sure that Rose will tell you all."

LINE BREAK

Very early the next morning, Rose, wearing her workout clothes, opened the door to her room. Then, she slowly turned around and closed the door to her room.

As Rose walked slowly away from her room, she had no idea that Lono was in his dragon form, watching her from the roof of her room, a smile on his face.

However, when Lono heard the sound of flapping wings, his smile disappeared and he turned his head to the side, seeing Savannah land on the roof behind and to the side of him, a piece of paper in her clawed hand.

"I've got your list." Savannah said as she walked up to Lono's side, Lono turning his head back to normal, watching as Rose slowly started to jog.

"I'm not too late, am I?" Savannah asked.

"Why would you be too late?" Lono asked, his smile appearing again. "I haven't even told the team yet. Let me see the list." He said as he held out his claws, Savannah quickly and silently handing the list over.

"Good." Lono said after just a quick glance at it, lowering it from his face. "It's perfect."

"Thanks..." Savannah smiled sheepishly as she turned to the side. "I spent awhile working on it."

"You didn't have to spend so much time on it, Savannah." Lono said as he turned to the side, facing her. "It's just one team up for one mission. The first mission of many...I hope..." He added the "I hope" at the end as a mumble."

"I know that." Savannah shrugged.

"Have you gotten any sleep?"

Instead of answering verbally, Savannah just shook her head once.

"Okay, here is what I want you to do..." Lono said as he turned back to look over the edge of the building. "...I want you to go get some sleep, or at least try to. I'll come and get you in about two hours." He finished as he turned his head to the side to look at her.

"Thanks." Savannah smiled thankfully before she turned and walked to the edge of the roof on the opposite side of Lono and then took off with a flap of her wings.

With Savannah gone, Lono turned his head back to normal, narrowing his eyes as he continued to watch Rose.

"Big plans in store for you, Rose..." He whispered.

BLACKOUT; END

**A/N: Please review!**


	2. Chapter 2

Future Dragon: Rose Long (Season Six)

Chapter/Episode 2: Rayden

Later that morning, Rose, wearing her normal clothes, made her way toward the dining room. Stepping inside, she saw that everyone was sitting down, except for Cherri, who was standing at the edge of the table.

"Rose, have you seen Savannah?"

"And, or Lono?" Lista asked as she turned her head to the side.

"No, not since yesterday." Rose answered. "Why? They're not here?"

"No, and usually Savannah gets here around the same time that I do." Cherri said.

"And Lono just came back..." There was a hint of disappointment in Lista's voice. "...He said that he'd be back to stay."

"But I am back, Lista." Came the sound of Lono's voice from the door, making Rose gasp and spin around, seeing Lono and Savannah both in their dragon forms and with their medallions around their necks. The two had entered the room and were standing side-by-side. As Lono smiled at everyone, Savannah opened her mouth and yawned.

"Are you alright?" Lono asked as he turned his head to the side to look at Savannah as Savannah closed her mouth. Instead of answering verbally, Savannah nodded twice.

"Now can we eat?" Maverick asked as he turned his head to the side.

"Yes." Lono smiled again as he turned his head back to normal. "However, I want all of you to make it as quick as possible."

"Any reason?" Cherri asked as she walked up to Rose's side.

"As I said the other night..." Lono said. "...I'm really proud of Rose."

"Yeah, you don't have to go and praise her every chance you get..." Gilda growled as she picked up her glass and then took a sip of her drink.

"Unfortunately, we have made no progress in finding the killer of Rose's parents." Lono continued while Savannah nodded with every word that her superior said. "Today, I'd like to give us all a chance to find something out there, whether it be related to the crime or another random crime."

"We're going out?" Cherri asked.

"Yes." Lono said while Savannah once again nodded. "So, I want you all to eat your breakfast as quickly as you can. Then, I want you to all go and grab your medallions. Finally, meet me at the exit in your dragon forms. Let's try to all me there in the next half hour. Sound good?"

"It sounds great." Cherri said while both Savannah and Lono turned and started to leave. However, while Savannah walked out of the room, Lono stopped and turned back around.

"Oh, and one more thing..." Lono said. "...Savannah has made up a list with your names on it. You will all be split up into groups."

LINE BREAK

After breakfast, Rose silently made her way toward her room. As soon as she reached the door to her room, she pushed it open and walked inside, finally reaching her bed with a sigh. Reaching down, she grabbed her pillow and lifted it up, revealing her medallion.

Holding the chain with both hands, Rose lifted it up to the level of her chest before she closed her eyes and took a deep breath, allowing her body to be engulfed by a bright light, transforming into her dragon form.

Opening her eyes, Rose smiled as she slipped the chain over her neck.

LINE BREAK

As she neared the elevator, Rose found that Gilda, Arkadi, Lista, Lexy and Maverick all lined up. Rose started to quickly walk over to the others, but she slowed down as she heard the sound of heavy footsteps on the grass, accompanied by panting. Finally, Cherri arrived at her side, her medallion around her neck, and slowed down to Rose's pace.

Moments later, Rose and Cherri both arrive at the end of the row that made up the tam, Maverick, Lexy, Lista, Arkadi and Gilda all wearing their medallions around their necks. "Good to see that you're all here." Lono smiled as he stood beside Savannah, who held the piece of paper in her claws.

"And right on time..." Savannah added as she held up the list. "Gilda and Arkadi, you two are together." As Savannah said this, Arkadi smiled and put a clawed hand on the frowning Gilda's scaly shoulder. "Maverick and Cherri, you two are together." Savannah continued. "Lista and Lexy, you two are with me."

"And you're with me, Rose." Lono finished.

"Alright, now let's head out." Savannah said as she lowered the paper in her claws.

LINE BREAK

Meanwhile, in a dark alley, two leprechauns, one with a purple top hat, and the other with a red top hat, both sat on each side of a pot of gold.

"Let's start breaking this up..." The purple hat-wearing leprechaun as he reached toward the pot. However, before the leprechaun could grab a piece of gold, he froze and his eyes widened as he heard a soft thud, followed by a thud.

"Or how about a save you the time and you could give the gold to me..." Came the sound of a female's voice, which caused both leprechauns to gasp and turn their heads to the side and see a female gnome with no pointed hat but instead messy, green hair. She wore a red tunic and a black, small skirt with black boots. In her hand, she held a burlap sack.

"It's Rayden!" The red hat-wearing leprechaun stated.

Rayden, the female gnome, only grinned as she watched the two leprechauns jump up onto their feet and then run away. As soon as the two leprechauns were out of the way, Rayden hummed pleasantly as she walked up to the pot.

As soon as she reached it, the grinning gnome reached down and took a handful of gold coins in her hand and pulled the coins up to the level of her face.

"Success..."

LINE BREAK

"Okay, so here is what's going to happen..." Lono said as he and Rose stood side-by-side on the dock above the surface of the water, facing Gilda and Arkadi, Cherri and Maverick, and Lista, Savannah and Lexy. "...Now that we are out of Mermaid City and we have our teams..." Lono continued as he put a clawed hand on Rose's scaly shoulder. "...We're going to split up. That way, we'll all be able to hopefully find some action."

"When do we meet back here?" Maverick asked.

"When we normally have dinner." Lono smiled.

"Serious?" Cherri asked. "We're going to be out that long?"

"If we're going to find the killer of Rose's parents..." Lono told Cherri as he took his claws off of Rose's shoulder and crossed his scaly arms. "...We're going to have to work hard. Savannah has conducted several searches..."

"But we got nothing." Savannah said.

"Exactly." Lono said. "It's possible that the culprit is not in Manhattan. We're going to have to search outside the city eventually."

"Lono, I'd say that we need to start searching outside of the city now." Savannah said.

"Well..." Lono smiled as he shrugged his shoulders. "...It's a good thing that we've all split up into teams..."

LINE BREAK

"505..." Rayden counted as she pulled the 505th gold coin out of the pot and put it into her burlap sack. "...506..." She put it into the sack. "...507..." Into the sack the 507th coin went. "...508..." She put it into the sack. "...And 509..." She said as she took the last coin out of the pot and placed it into the sack.

Grinning, Rayden kicked the leprechaun's pot away before she grunted, slowly putting the burlap sack over her shoulder. Groaning, Rayden slowly turned to the side and walked off with her stolen loot.

LINE BREAK

Meanwhile, Lono and Rose flew side-by-side in silence, both of them looking down and to their sides. "See anything?" Rose finally asked as both she and Lono turned their heads back to normal.

"Not yet." Lono smiled. "Let's not give up yet."

"Didn't even know that that was an option." Rose told him.

After that, the two remained silent for about twenty seconds as they continued flying, both Rose and Lono looking down and to the side.

"Hey, Rose..." Lono said as he turned his head back to normal while Rose looked back down. "...You know, I think this would be the perfect time for me to tell you what I've been trying to tell you since I first met you."

"Oh, yeah..." Rose replied as she lifted her head up. "...Yeah, I guess it would be." She turned her head to the side to look at him. "You've finally got me in the right place. I'm all ears."

"Well, Rose..." Lono said as the two of them continued to fly forward, Lono's eyes looking out into the distance while Rose kept her eyes on Lono. "...It is about your parents..."

"I'm pretty sure you've already said that." Rose said as she turned her head back to normal.

"Yes, well..." Lono continued, obviously nervous. "...About your parents, I-"

However, before he could even start to tell Rose about what had happened, Lono saw both Arkadi and Gilda swooping down to their level a couple feet away, theirs backs to them.

"What the...?" Lono asked as his eyes widening as both he and Rose stopped flying forward.

"Looks like Gilda and Arkadi." Rose said.

"I know that." Lono said. "But I thought I made it clear that we were splitting up."

"I don't think they followed us." Rose told him. "They came down from above us. I doubt they know we're behind them. I think this is a coinci-"

"Let's go, Rose." Lono interrupted her, starting to fly towards Arkadi and Gilda, leaving Rose shocked. However, Rose quickly recovered from the surprise and grunted as she pushed herself forward, following after Lono.

"Arkadi! Gilda!" Both Arkadi and Gilda were forced to turn around when they heard the sound of Lono's voice, seeing Lono stop right in front of them.

"What are you doing here?" Arkadi asked in his Russian accent. "I thought we split up."

"I thought the same thing." Lono said as Rose reached Lono's side, making Gilda narrow her eyes.

"Oh, that's right..." Gilda crossed her arms. "...You were teamed up with Lono."

Despite Gilda's hateful words, Rose said nothing. She just put her hands on her hips, her eyes widening as she heard the sound of flapping wings. Turning her head to the side, Rose could see Cherri and Maverick flying toward them.

"Lono..." Cherri said as she and Maverick stopped at the side of the others. "...We were just passing by when we saw you with Gilda and Arkadi."

"Are we meeting back up?" Maverick asked. "Are we done?"

"Since we saw you, we just headed over." Cherri explained.

"No we're not done." Lono told Cherri and Maverick, his head turned to the side. However, just like Rose had done, his eyes widened as he heard three sets of flapping wings. Turning around, Lono could see Lexy, Savannah and Lista all flying toward them.

"What's going on?" Savannah called out. "What's going on, Lono?" She repeated as she, Lexy and Lista both stopped before him.

Sighing, Lono brought his clawed hand up and covered his eyes as he shook his head twice. "Okay, this did not work out." Lono said as he took his clawed hand away from his face.

"What didn't work out?" Lista asked.

"Alright, everyone..." Lono announced as he turned to the side. "...It seems that I really should have thought this idea out more."

"It seemed pretty thought out to me." Savannah said.

"Well, I should have given all of you towns to go to or something like that." Lono said with a sigh. "Okay." He continued, putting his hands on his hips. "This didn't work out. Since splitting us up into groups didn't work, I guess that we'll just continued on as one, complete team."

LINE BREAK

Despite flying as a team, almost every team member was still with their partner. Savannah and Lono were flying in front, with Cherri and Maverick behind them, then Rose, then Gilda and Arkadi, and then finally Lista and Lexy.

"So..." Savannah asked in a soft voice as she turned her head to the side. "...Did you get a chance to talk to Rose?"

"No." Lono answered in a growl. "You all arrived before I had a chance."

"Maybe you could fall back and talk to her." Savannah suggested as she turned her head back to normal.

"I'll wait until we get back to Mermaid City." Lono told her.

LINE BREAK

Meanwhile, the burlap sack flew up over the side of a building and landed on the roof. Grunting, Rayden climbed up onto the roof and once she was on her feet, she ran over to her stolen loot and grabbed the bag with both hands, grunting as she lifted it up and slowly slung it over her shoulder.

Then, Rayden started to run as quickly as she could toward the edge of the building. The female gnome grunted as she jumped off of the ledge, grunting as she landed on the roof of the next building, continuing on.

Unbeknownst to the female gnome, Lono's team was flying high above her, both Lista and Lexy having their heads down, seeing Rayden jumping over to another roof's building.

"Hey, Lono." Lexy said as she and Lista both stopped flying forward and looked up, causing the rest of the team to stop.

"Look down." Lista said.

Below on the roof, Rayden was panting as she slowly made her way to the edge of the roof. However, as soon as Rayden had reached the ledge, she set down the burlap sack and hunched over, trying to catch her breath as she held her knees.

Unbeknownst to the female gnome, as she caught her breath, Lono landed on the roof with Savannah and Rose on each side of him. As the three dragons watched Rayden breathe, Cherri, Maverick and Lista landed next to Rose while Lexy, Gilda and Arkadi landed next to Savannah.

Finally, Rayden stopped panting and straightened up, reaching out to the side and grabbing her burlap sack.

"Are you alright?" Lono finally spoke up, making the female gnome gasp and unhand the sack, spinning around to face the nine dragons, all facing her.

BLACKOUT; COMMERCIAL

BACK TO THE STORY/SHOW

Rayden could only stare at the dragons with wide eyes, afraid to do anything other than just stand in place.

"What's in the sack?" Savannah asked, pointing at the burlap sack.

"Uh, it's nothing." Rayden quickly said. "Just laundry."

"I don't think a little creature such as yourself could possibly have so much laundry..." Arkadi pointed out, getting a back-handed slap in the shoulder from Gilda in response. "Ow!"

"It's for my entire family." Rayden lied as she stared at the dragons.

However, Lono himself was staring at the creature. Finally, his eyes widened in shock.

"Do you mind if we take a look at your laundry?" Cherri asked.

"Um..." Rayden replied as she reached over and grabbed the sack.

"How could I forget?" Lono whispered as he stared at Rayden with wide eyes. "How could I be so blind?"

"What?" Rose asked softly as she turned her head to the side.

"I know you!" Lono declared as he pointed at Rayden with his clawed hand, making Rayden's eyes widen and her lips part. "How could I forget you, you thief?"

"Crap!" Rayden cursed, knowing that she was screwed.

"Get her!" Lono shouted, Savannah, Lexy, Gilda, Arkadi, Rose, Cherri, Maverick and Lista all chasing after Rayden, who grunted as she jumped off of the edge of the building, holding onto the sack. Landing on the next roof with a grunt, Rayden didn't even bother to look back, instead just running while the entire team ran up the ledge and leapt off of the roof, easily flying over to the next roof while Lono flew above them.

Rayden was right in the middle of the roof, but before the panting gnome could make it any further, she gasped and came to a halt as Rose and Savannah landed in front of her.

"So what's really in that sack of yours?" Savannah asked right before she and Rose both lashed out with their tails.

With a grunt, Rayden managed to jump back, Rose and Savannah's tails whizzing by and not harming her. However, then Rayden grunted as Lista hit her in the back from behind with her tail. As Rayden grunted and stumbled forward, dropping her burlap sack, Lista grinned as she hovered in the air, while Lexy hovered beside her, a nervous look on her face.

Recovering from Lista's blow, Rayden tried to reach out to take her sack, but before she could, both Savannah and Rose wrapped their tails around the burlap sack, pulling it away. "We'll be taking this." Savannah said as the sack reached her and Rose, who were now standing a few inches away.

"Give it back!" Rayden screeched as she ran over to Savannah and Rose. Jumping up, Rayden flew over to Rose and kicked her in the chest, making Rose grunt and fall over.

With a scowl on her face, Savannah cast her head to the side and wrapped her tail around the top of the sack, turning to the side and running off, dragging the sack with her.

Growling with anger, Rayden ran after Savannah and lunged, flying over the bag and landing beside Savannah's tail. Savannah gasped in surprise as she was unable to do anything except watch Rayden turn to the side and bite Savannah in the tail.

Crying in pain, Savannah pulled her tail away.

Smiling, Rayden turned to look at her sack of money, but just as she reached it, she gasped as Gilda and Arkadi both brought down their tails and wrapped them around the top of the sack, lifting it up into the air.

Growling, Rayden looked up into the air to see both Gilda and Arkadi hovering in the air, both looking down on her, Gilda grinning. "You won't be getting this back!" Gilda mocked.

Snarling, Rayden pounced up and grabbed onto the burlap sack, started to climb up the side of it.

"Uh, you might want to do something, Gilda." Arkadi advised as Gilda stared at the female gnome with a dropped jaw.

"I don't think so, gnome!" Gilda said as she turned to the side, grunting as she started to swing her tail back and forth, starting to try and swing Rayden off.

However, Gilda's attempt did nothing. Grunting, Rayden pulled herself further up the sack right before she grunted in pain as Rose's tail slammed into her back and the side of the sack, making Gilda gasp as Rose's attack made her lose her grip on the burlap sack, the sack and Rayden flying away, only to land on the other end of the roof, the laughing Rayden hopping off and stepping to the side, only to see that Lono was standing in-between Cherri and Maverick, Lono's arms crossed.

Meanwhile, Rose landed on the roof beside Savannah, Rose looking at the very angry-looking Gilda, who was standing next to Arkadi. "Why?" Gilda demanded, narrowing her eyes.

"Why what?" Rose retorted as she crossed her scaly arms. "Why'd I help you?"

"I had it completely under control!"

"Guys!" Savannah interrupted, holding up both of her clawed hands, making Rose turn her head to the side. "Now isn't the time." Savannah told them as she lowered her hands.

Meanwhile, Lono grunted as he swung his tail up, hitting Rayden, who was holding her burlap sack, in the chin. With a grunt, the female gnome was thrown off of her feet and flew back, still holding the burlap sack, landing on her back.

As both Cherri and Maverick left Lono's side and ran toward Rayden, the female gnome got up on her feet as quickly as she could. Grabbing her burlap sack, Rayden grunted as she started to spin around, attacking Cherri and Maverick with her loot.

As both Cherri and Maverick got close enough to be hit, Cherri gasped and quickly ducked so that the burlap sack whizzed by her, but Maverick was not so lucky. Maverick grunted and immediately keeled to the side as the burlap sack filled with over 500 pieces of gold hit him in the side of the head.

Growling with rage, Lono took two steps before he jumped, flapping his wings as he flew toward Rayden, landing right in front of her and quickly punching her right in the face.

With a grunt, Rayden was thrown off of her feet, her arm shooting up as she flew back, releasing the sack of gold coins. As Rayden grunted and landed on her back, Lono flew toward the burlap sack and grunted as he sliced the sack in half with his tail, causing all of the gold to fall to the roof, Rose, Savannah, Gilda, Arkadi, Lista and Lexy all watching with wide eyes.

With all of the gold on the roof, Lono landed.

"Wow." Savannah could only to say. "She was one strong gnome..."

"Cherri, are you and Maverick okay?" Lono asked as he turned around, only to widen his eyes as he saw that Cherri was sitting on her knees at Maverick's side, a very worried look on her face. Maverick was lying on his side, his face and belly facing Cherri.

"He's unconscious, Lono." Cherri said.

"Okay." Lono said as he took a step back. "He's going to be fine. We've had enough for to-"

However, before Lono could finish, Rayden growled as she quickly rolled over onto her stomach and picked herself up onto her feet. "My gold!" She shouted in anger as she ran at Lono.

Gritting his teeth, Lono waited until Rayden had gotten close enough. Then, Lono lashed out with his tail and wrapped it around Rayden's waist. With the shocked Rayden trapped, Lono flapped his wings and flew into the air, making Rayden grunt as she was pulled up with him.

Then, Lono grunted as he spun around, releasing Rayden so that the force of his spin sent the female gnome flying back. Screaming with fear, Rayden flew back over the ledge, making Rose, Savannah, Gilda, Arkadi, Lista and Lexy all turn around. Falling into the alley in-between the two buildings, Rayden continued to scream as she fell into and disappeared into an open sewer hole.

Landing on the roof, Lono wordlessly walked over to the worried Cherri and knelt down on the other side of Maverick, reaching down and putting his claws down on Maverick's arm and rolling him over onto his back.

"Is he going to be okay?" Cherri asked nervously.

"If he isn't going to be okay..." Lono said. "...Then just know that it's not your fault, Cherri. There was nothing you could have done."

"I know." Cherri told him.

"Here's what I want you to do..." Lono told her. "...And I want you to listen carefully."

"I am, Lono." Cherri said. "I'm listening."

"Get a head start back to Mermaid City." Lono her. "Get him back and try to find some kind of treatment. Find pills, ice, anything."

"And you?" Cherri asked.

"Don't worry about me and the others." Lono gave her a small smile. "Just focus on Maverick."

Then, Lono grunted as he stood back up, turning around and walking away from Cherri, making his way over to the others, who were all staring over the ledge, looking down at the open sewer hole.

Finally, Lista whistled. "I think Lono killed her." She said.

"Probably." Arkadi agreed.

"I wouldn't be so sure." Lono said as he stopped a couple inches behind them, making all of the team members slowly turn around. "Is she on the ground?" Lono asked, putting his clawed hands on his hips.

"No, she disappeared." Lexy said. "She fell into a manhole."

"You don't think she survived, do you?" Arkadi asked.

"I know she survived." Lono said. "And I also know that we need to go in there and go after her."

"But Lono, we already defeated her." Lexy said. "That was what we came out to do. That gold that she probably stole...we have it."

"No, I agree with Lono." Savannah said as she crossed her arms. "We need to do this. It's our job to bring criminals to justice. Besides, it's even more personal now that she attacked Maverick. If she survived the fall, then she's down there."

"And if we don't go down there..." Rose continued. "...Then she'll get away..."

LINE BREAK

Down in the sewer, Rayden was standing in the shallow water, looking up at the sky through the hole, a scowl on her face.

Despite her anger, the female gnome lowered her head and then turned to the side, running deeper into the sewer tunnel, looking for a means of escape.

LINE BREAK

Up above the sewer hole, all of the dragons dived from the roof of the building and dove down, all landing around the open sewer hole.

"Okay." Lono said. "All of you follow me down. Hopefully, the fall knocked her out and it will be easy to get her."

Then, Lono dove down into the sewer hole, followed by Savannah, who was closest to him, followed by Gilda, then Arkadi, then Lexy, who jumped feet-first, then Rose and then finally Lista.

Below the ground, all of the dragons landed in the shallow water together. As her feet entered the water, Lexy looked down with wide eyes, moaning as she tried taking one of her feet out briefly before she put it back in, taking her other foot out.

Moaning with discomfort, Lexy looked up, just in time for Lista to put a clawed hand on her shoulder, making Lexy to turn her head to the side, seeing Lista smile at her.

"It's okay." Lista said comfortingly.

Meanwhile, Lono, Rose and Savannah were all looking around for any sign of Rayden. Finally, Savannah stopped looking and looked straight ahead while both Lono and Rose both kept looking.

"I can't find any sign of her even being here." Savannah said. "Lono, how about you?"

Savannah's question apparently persuaded Lono to stop futilely searching, for he stopped and looked straight ahead, just like Savannah. With a sigh that made Rose stop looking and look straight ahead as well, Lono spoke: "Nothing."

"I think it's obvious that she survived now." Rose said.

"You're absolutely right, Rose." Lono said before he turned around. "How about you?" He asked as he turned his head slightly, looking at her. "See any kind of sign?"

"Just like you, I do not." Rose said.

Nodding, Lono turned his attention to the rest of the team members, who were all looking at him. "Alright." Lono said. "She's not here."

"Does that mean we can go?" Lexy asked in a pleading tone. "Please, Lono. Say we can go..."

"It means we have to keep going." Lono told her. "Come on."

With that, Lono turned around and started to venture through the shallow water, Rose and Savannah following him, Gilda and Arkadi following them, leaving only Lista and Lexy behind.

"This is turning into a really bad day..." Lexy growled, Lista taking her claws off of her shoulder.

With Lista starting to follow the rest of the team, Lexy took a deep breath and squeezed her eyes shut.

Opening her eyes, Lexy then followed the rest of her team, jogging to catch up as she chanted to herself: "It's okay, it's okay. You're fine, you're fine."

Catching up with Lista, the team ventured on, going deeper and deeper and deeper into the sewers, looking for Rayden.

BLACKOUT; END

**A/N: So, how was that? What did you think? Please leave a review.**

**So, starting in the next chapter/episode, each member of the team will be given their time to shine for an episode. A lot of each episode will be flashbacks. So, that's just a little hint as to what is coming up next.**


	3. Chapter 3

Future Dragon: Rose Long (Season Six)

Chapter/Episode 3: Rayden Hunt Part 1: Dragon Do Good

Grunting, Cherri struggled to fly as she carried the unconscious and still dragon Maverick on her back. "Oh, thank God..." Cherri said with relief as she saw that the dock was coming closer into view. "...Not much longer now, Maverick..." Cherri said in a strained tone, squeezing her eyes shut.

A short time later, Cherri landed on the docks, sighing with relief as she took her hands off of her own shoulders, her hands having kept Maverick's on her body, therefore preventing him from falling. However, now Cherri allowed the still unconscious Maverick to fall to the ground as she reverted to her human form.

Reaching into the pocket of her pants, Cherri pulled out a communication device, holding it in both hands.

LINE BREAK

Back in the sewer, Lono, Rose and Savannah led the way, with Gilda, Arkadi, Lista and Lexy behind them.

A short time later, all of the dragons came to a stop, Lono's eyes wide and Lexy turning her head to the side. There were five halls all lined up, one-by-one, all leading to another place in the sewer.

"Lono, what now?" Savannah asked as she turned her head to the side.

"I think there is only one thing we can do." Lono said as he took three steps forward and then turned around. "I think we should split up." He said as he put his clawed hands on his hips. "And this time, forget about the pairs."

"Split up..." Lexy asked nervously. "...All by ourselves?"

"Our gnome could have gone in any of these." Lono said. "She could have even just continued on straight. The only way we'll stand a chance of finding her is if we split up."

"We don't have to find her, Lono." Lexy tried. "We could just go. Maverick is hurt, this shouldn't matter."

"Maverick doesn't matter to you." Gilda growled as she crossed her scaly arms. "The only thing that matters to you is your own problem."

"I'm sorry, Lexy." Lono said. "But we've got to do it this way." Then, Lono turned around. "Okay, everyone. Pick a tunnel and go on in..."

LINE BREAK

Meanwhile, the elevator door slid open at Mermaid City and Cherri wheezed as she walked out, hunched over, Maverick, still unconscious, on her back. "Need some help?" Came the sound of Silver's voice, causing Cherri to stop in her tracks and look up, seeing the smiling mermaid with a group of four other mermaids.

"That'd be nice..." Cherri wheezed.

A short time later, the door to Maverick's room was open and the four mermaids walked inside, using their fin-flaps as feet, holding the unconscious Maverick up above their heads as they got him to his bed.

As the mermaids placed Maverick on his bed, both Cherri and Silver made their way to the door. "What exactly happened?" Silver asked.

"We were out fighting a gnome." Cherri explained. "He got hit in the side of the head."

"Hm." Silver said as she put her hand to her chin. Then, she smiled as she lowered her hand and turned her head to the side. "Would you like me to check on him and make sure he doesn't have any subdural hematoma or anything like that?"

"Silver, if you did that..." Cherri smiled as she turned her head to the side to look at the mermaid. "...You would be my hero."

LINE BREAK

Meanwhile, in the sewers, Rose walked alone along the dark hall that she had chosen to enter. Walking along a curve in the hall, Rose's eyes widened and she came to a stop as she saw that the hall that she had entered connected with another hall that was going straight.

Not only was that hall going straight, but Savannah was walking down that hall. "Hey, Savannah!" Rose called, making Savannah freeze and turn her head to the side.

"Oh, hey." She smiled as she called back.

"Looks like this hall that I chose only connects with the next hall." Rose said as she started to walk towards the hall that Savannah was in.

"Maybe all of the halls do that." Savannah suggested as she turned to the side and took a step back, allowing Rose to walk into the hall.

"It's possible." Rose agreed.

"Look, now that you're here..." Savannah began as she put her clawed hands on her hips.

"I guess Lono would want me to go back out and pick a different tunnel." Rose told her.

"...I doubt that." Savannah said. "...I think he would be perfectly fine with the idea of you and I searching together." By the time Savannah finished saying this, she had another smile on her face.

LINE BREAK

Lono, just like Rose, Savannah and the rest of the team, walked alone along a dark hall. Coming out of the hall, Lono stepped in to more shallow water, stepping out into the hall. Treading through the shallow water, Lono looked up and turned his head in both directions, failing to find any sign of Rayden having come through.

Sighing, Lono turned his head back to normal and saw that there was another hall ahead of him.

Quickly, Lono started to walk toward the hall through the shallow water, stepping up and stepping into the hall, continuing on his way...

_FLASHBACK_

_The sun was starting to set and Lono was flying high in the sky in his dragon form. Looking down at the streets, Lono could see that there were a few people out on the streets, the people walking._

_Looking up, Lono turned to the side in the air and started to fly over an alley that was in-between two buildings. Then, he dove down, landing on his feet._

_LINE BREAK_

_Night had fallen, and Lono, still in his dragon form, was sleeping on his belly on the top of a dumpster._

_As he slept, snoring softly, he was unaware of two shadowy figures walking into the alley, one of them shorter than the other, carrying a sack in their hands. _

_The one carrying the sack was a teenage girl, with curly, long red hair, while the second person was an older male with blonde hair. "Alright, let's put this thing in the trash. Hopefully, we'll never get caught."_

_Nodding, the teenage girl walked along his side as they stepped toward the dumpster, however, as they got closer to the dumpster, they could see the sleeping Lono on the lid._

_Gasping, the girl turned her head to the side. "What now?"_

_"Just drop it." The male said as he took a step back, the girl turning her head back to normal. "If it wakes up, it probably will attack us. It's a beast after all."_

_"And we have nothing to attack it with..." The girl added right before she dropped the sack on the ground with a thud. Then, the two turned around and ran out of the alley, leaving the burlap sack on the ground._

_LINE BREAK_

_The next morning, as the sun shined in the sky, Lono moaned as he awoke from his slumber. Yawning as he sat up on his knees, Lono stretched out his scaly arms until he finished yawning._

_Smacking his lips, Lono moved to the side and slid off of the dumpster lid, standing up on his feet. Groaning, Lono leaned over to stretch out his back, only to stop as he noticed the burlap sack on the ground._

_"Huh?" He asked himself as he lifted himself up._

_Slowly sitting down on his knees, Lono stared at the sack on the ground, and after about five seconds of just staring at it, he slowly started to reach out with one of his clawed hands. However, before he could grab it, he stopped himself._

_"Maybe I shouldn't..." Lono said to himself._

_However, a second later, he finished reaching out and grabbed the bag, clamping down on it with his claws, feeling what was inside. "What's in here?" Lono asked himself as he brought his other hand over to the sack and started to untie it._

_As the burlap sack came untied and Lono pulled his clawed hands away, Lono gasped as he saw what was in the bag: it was the mutilated body of a leprechaun._

BLACKOUT; COMMERCIAL BREAK

BACK TO THE STORY/SHOW

_Horrified, Lono fell back and scrambled away from the body. "Oh my god, who did that?!" Lono demanded as he stopped scrambling away, his eyes wide with horror. "WHO could do a thing like that?"_

END FLASHBACK

Back at Mermaid City, Cherri, still in her dragon form, was standing against the wall of Maverick's room, standing next to the closed door of the room, her scaly arms crossed.

However, once the door opened, Cherri lowered her arms to her sides and turned her head to the side as Silver walked outside, using her fin flaps as feet.

"Well?" Cherri asked nervously as she turned to the side, watching as Silver, who was facing her, reached out and grabbed the knob of the door, closing the door of Maverick's room so she and Cherri could talk.

"Well?" Cherri repeated. "Is he going to be alright?"

"Oh, yes." Silver smiled. "He has a mild concussion. Other than that, he is lucky because he won't have any repercussions from what happened to him."

"Good." Cherri couldn't help but smile with relief.

"He's sleeping now." Silver told the dragon standing in front of her. "Maybe you should get some rest, too."

"Actually..." Cherri said, her smile disappearing. "...If you don't mind, I think I'm going to watch over Maverick and see how he's doing once he wakes up."

"That sounds great." Silver said. "If you want me to, while you do that, I can keep a look out for the rest of your team."

"I would appreciate that, Silver." Cherri told the mermaid, another smile spreading onto her face.

LINE BREAK

Meanwhile, both Savannah and Rose were walking down the dark hall in the sewer.

"I wonder how far we are from where we first entered." Savannah wondered out loud,

"Don't know." Rose told her.

"Do you think we'll be able to find our way out of here?" Savannah asked, turning her head to the side to look at Rose. "Or do you think we're comple-"

However, as Savannah spoke, Rose's ears twitched as she heard the sound of clambering up steel stairs from above.

"Shh." Rose told Savannah as she held up a clawed hand, making Savannah stop speaking and turn her head back to normal. "I hear something." Rose said softly.

Rose then brought down her clawed hand and cupped it, looking down and blowing a fireball into it.

The fireball lighting up the hall, Rose held her clawed hand out and walked forward, finally stopping and looking up as the fire in her claws helped her see that there was a hole in the ceiling leading up to the streets.

As she looked up, Rose could see that Rayden was climbing up the steel ladder, trying to make her escape.

Growling, Rose discarded the fireball and flapped her wings, flying up into the hole, and just as Rayden put her hand on the lid of the manhole, Rose grabbed onto her ankle.

Yelping with surprise, Rayden lost her grip and fell down into the hall floor along with Rose. Savannah watched with wide eyes as Rose and Rayden both landed on the floor at the same time, both growling at each other.

"You got my money, what else could you possibly want?!" Rayden demanded as she clenched her fists.

Instead of answering her, Rose opened her mouth and blew out a fireball at the female gnome. Grunting, Rayden jumped into the air as Rose's fireball hit the floor, right where she had been standing.

However, as Rayden started coming back down to the ground, she grunted as Rose's tail slammed into her, throwing her back, heading toward the end of the hall. As Rayden flew out of the hall, she screamed as she fell back, disappearing under the shallow water of the sewer break in-between halls.

"Oh great..." Rose growled as Savannah walked up to her side.

"You can say that again." Savannah said. "I think you just aided in her escape."

"No, I think I just killed her." Rose said before she rushed out of the hall, grunting as she jumped into the water once she reached the end of the hall. Quickly, Rose looked down and looked all over the place, finding no sign of Rayden, and no bubbles caused by a drowning gnome.

"Did you find her?" Savannah asked as she walked out to the end of the hall.

"No." Rose said as she turned around to face her friend and fellow team member. "I can't find her anywhere."

With Rose's back turned, Rayden emerged from the water at the start of the next tunnel with her back to Rose. Turning her head to the side, Rayden grinned as she saw that Rose and Savannah were too busy talking to realize that she was right in their view.

"We're going to have to search through the water." Rose said.

"Good luck with that..." Rayden whispered before she turned her head back to normal and jumped up into the hall, quickly running off.

Meanwhile, Rose had turned back around and was walking further out into the shallow water while Savannah jumped in.

Grunting, Savannah swiped both of her claws through the water, once each, splashing water out. "Great, Rose." Savannah shot as she pulled her hands out of the water. "Just great. Now we'll never find her."

"Yes we will." Rose told Savannah. "I'm going under."

Then, Rose took a deep breath and took a belly dive into the water, disappearing under.

FLASHBACK

_Lono had a look of anger on his face as he flew high in the air. He couldn't believe that someone could do such a brutal thing to a living thing. Granted, he knew that things were hard for magical creatures, and he knew that humans felt threatened knowing that magical creatures existed._

_"Maybe humans didn't kill the leprechaun..." Lono growled to himself, trying to calm himself down. "...Maybe he got on the wrong side of another dragon..."_

_However, as he continued to fly, from below, he could hear the sound of a clang as he heard something hit a trashcan down in the streets. Stopping in his tracks, with wide eyes, Lono looked down._

_Down on the ground, a younger Lexy was on her hands and knees in her human form, in front of a fallen metal trashcan, the lid off and all of the trash on the grand. With her hands and her knees in the trash, Lexy looked down at the trash, trembling with disgust._

_Turning her head to the side, Lexy could see the same two people who had dumped the leprechaun's body in the alley walking toward her._

_"You...You can't do this..." Lexy managed, tears starting to form in her eyes._

_"Who's going to stop us?" The male asked as he and the female got closer to her. Meanwhile, from behind them, Lono swooped down from behind them, landing on his feet. _

_"I am." Lono said, making the two humans stop and turn around, both of them gasping as they looked up. "Why are you bugging this girl?" Lono asked dangerously as he crossed his scaly arms._

_Slowly, both of the humans backed off, although that didn't stop them both from scowling. "She's a dragon..." Growled the male._

_"So?" Lono asked._

_"No!" Lexy shouted, a look of fear on her face as tears rolled down her cheeks. "I...I'm not a dragon! Do I look like a dragon?"_

_"We saw you land and transform into a human!" The female said as she turned her head to the side._

_"Why don't you just fly away, dragon?" The male asked as the female turned her head back to normal. "This doesn't concern you!"_

_"But it does..." Lono said dangerously as he lowered his scaly arms to his sides. "...I won't let you attack a fellow dragon..."_

BLACKOUT; COMMERCIAL BREAK

BACK TO THE STORY/SHOW

_"I'm not a dragon!" Lexy repeated in a frightened voice. _

_"Alright them..." Lono smiled, shrugging. "...Either way, I feel the need to help you out."_

_"What are you going to do?" Both the male and female humans asked, curious as to whether the dragon was going to hurt them or not._

_"Nothing, just step away and get lost." Lono growled, clenching his clawed hands into fists._

_"And here we thought you'd be a foul beast..." The male stated, making Lono narrow his eyes. Leaning forward, he opened his mouth and roared right in the faces of the two humans. The roar was so loud that both humans stumbled back and then fell down in sitting positions._

_Flaring his wings, Lono flapped them and flew into the air, flying over the stunned humans and landing behind Lexy, who had gotten on her feet and was now whimpering as she wiped her hands on her pants._

_"Are you alright?" Lono asked. _

_Taking her hands away from her pants, the teary-eyed Lexy turned around to face Lono. "No, you don't look okay." Lono said as he took a step forward. "Is there anything I can do to help?"_

_Sniffling as tears continued to roll down her cheeks, Lexy shook her head._

_"Oh." Lono said as he took a step back. "Well...are you a dragon?"_

_"Yes." Lexy said softly._

_LINE BREAK_

_Sometime later, Lono was flying high in the air, deep in thought. _

_"How can the Dragon Council just expect everyone in the Magical World to put up with this treatment?" Lono asked himself. "It isn't right. Humans shouldn't be able to act like this..."_

_However, as his ears picked up the sound of flapping wings, which was getting closer, Lono was forced to put his attention ahead of him. Gasping, he saw that an angry looking griffin was flying toward him, a mermaid in its claws, dangling above the ground._

_"Watch out!" The terrified mermaid, who wore round-rimmed glasses and wore a black T-shirt and had slick black hair, shouted at him._

_Gasping, Lono quickly dived down just as the griffin was about to fly into him. However, the griffin's claws that held the mermaid hit Lono's back as Lono was descending down, making the griffin lose its grip on the mermaid, making the mermaid scream as she started to fall toward the ground._

_However, the mermaid's scream stopped and the mermaid grunted as she landed on Lono's back. In response to this, Lono grunted, his wings failed and the two started to plummet to the ground. _

_"What are you doing?" The mermaid asked as she turned her head to the side. "Fly, or we are both going to die!"_

_"I know..." Lono grunted right before he started to slowly flap his wings. However, his flaps were not strong enough, and the two magical creatures continued to fall._

_"Hurry!" The mermaid shouted as she turned her head to the side again._

_"I'm trying!" Lono grunted as he continued to flap his wings._

_"We're about to hit!" The mermaid said as she looked down._

_As the two continued to fall, Lono continued to grunt as he struggled to flap his wings. However, just as he was about to hit the roof of the building, Lono gave the mightiest flap that he could muster, which not only stopped their fall, but lifted them up into the air._

_Seconds later, Lono slowly landed on all fours on the roof, having come back down, the mermaid breathing heavily as she climbed off of his back and landed on her stomach on the roof. Lono, on the other hand, stood straight up and then turned around, watching as the mermaid rolled over onto her back and then sat up._

_"You saved me." She said in awe as she looked up at him._

_"Think nothing of it." Lono said as he sat down on his knees, the mermaid looking back down. "What were you doing with that griffin?" Lono asked._

_"I was taken by it." The mermaid answered. "Malevolent beast, it was. Thanks for saving me."_

_"Like I said, think nothing of it."_

_"Well, if that's the case..." The mermaid said. "...Then I should be getting back to my home."_

_"Where do you live?" Lono smiled. "I could fly you there?"_

_"You don't need to do that." The mermaid replied._

_"Eh, think nothing of it." Lono said with a shrug._

_LINE BREAK_

_A short time later, Lono landed on the wooden dock on his feet, the mermaid sliding off of his back and hopping over to his side._

_"So, I guess you just hop into the water." Lono said as he turned his head to the side._

_"Actually, no." The mermaid smiled._

_"Huh?"_

_"Actually, I live in Mermaid City." The mermaid said as a transparent submarine emerged from the water and made contact with the dock._

_LINE BREAK_

_After arriving at Mermaid City, Lono and the mermaid walked along side inside a large room, where, in the center, was a large chair with the person sitting in the chair with their back to them, the sound of fingers hitting away at a keyboard could be heard._

_"Silver, I'm back." The mermaid said as she and Lono stopped at the chair._

_"Oh, good." Came the sound of Silver's voice as she turned around, a smile on her face. "You were gone longer than I thought you would be."_

_"I ran into a little bit of a problem." The mermaid said._

_"Who is this?" Silver asked, pointing at Lono._

_"I'm Lono." Lono quickly said, just as the mermaid that he had rescued opened her mouth. "Lono Maha."_

_"He rescued me." The mermaid explained._

_"Rescued you from what, Addison?" Silver asked._

_"From a griffin." The mermaid, Addison, answered. "It's kind of a long story."_

_"Oh, well..." Silver smiled at Lono. "...Thank you, Lono."_

_"It was nothing." Lono said as he took a step back, Addison turning her head to the side to look at him. "I'm a dragon after all. It's my job. Well, if you'll excuse me..." He finished as he turned around, starting to walk away. "...I should leave and get back to my alley."_

_"Your...alley?" Silver asked._

_LINE BREAK_

_"Are you sure about this?" Lono asked as he walked alongside Silver, who was using her fin-flaps to walk upright, holding a key in her hand._

_"Oh, yeah." Silver smiled. "This room has been empty for quite some time."_

_"I don't think I could take it." Lono said as he turned his head to the side._

_"Well, I don't think that I can let you leave and go back to some alley." Silver countered. "It's brutal out there."_

_"I know that." Lono said as he turned his head back to normal. "Just this morning, I saw a dead leprechaun in my alley."_

_"Yikes."_

_"I really don't understand how anyone could do something like that." Lono said. "I really wish that something could be done."_

_"Well..." Silver said, just as they reached a building. Silver continued as she leaned forward and slipped the key into the lock and turned it. "Maybe someone will do something about it one of these days. _

_There." She said as she pulled the key out of the lock and opened the door, then she leaned back. "Go on in." Silver said, turning her head to the side, prompting Lono to walk away from her and inside the room._

_LINE BREAK_

_Later that night, Lono was lying on his back on his bed, staring up at his ceiling, lost in thought. Rolling over onto his side, Lono slowly closed his eyes._

_LINE BREAK_

_Slowly, Lono stepped in to the large room where he had first met Silver, finding the mermaid city in her chair, typing away at her old laptop, _

_"Silver..." Lono said as he continued walking into the room, making Silver look up from her laptop._

_"Is something wrong?" Silver asked._

_"No, I was just thinking." Lono said as he walked up and stopped in front of her chair. "About what I said earlier..."_

_"About how you wish that there were people out there who-"_

_"Helped out in the world, yeah." Lono cut her off with a smile._

_"Did you come to a conclusion?"_

_"Well, not exactly a solution..." Lono said as he put his clawed hands on his hips. "...I haven't truly decided on this, but I was thinking that maybe...that someone who actually tried to do some good...could be me."_

_"I think that sounds like a great idea." Silver smiled. "You should always do what you think is right."_

_"So, you think that I should?" Lono asked._

_"I think it's a great idea." Silver smiled._

END FLASHBACK

"Rose?" Meanwhile, Savannah and Rose were still searching for Rayden in the shallow water. Turning her head to the side, Savannah watched as Rose emerged from the water, taking a deep breath, her entire body wet from being under water.

"Did you find her?" Rose asked as she turned her head to the side.

"No." Savannah said as she turned to the side. "And I'm starting to think that she's not here."

"What are you talking about?" Rose asked as she turned to the side. "I saw her land in the water."

"Look, Rose." Savannah said as she turned her head to the side, pointing at the next tunnel, the one that Rayden had run into.

Turning her head to the side, Rose looked at the tunnel. "Savannah, don't you think that we would have seen her go in there?" Rose asked as she turned her head back to normal.

"Don't you think that if she was here in the water, we would have found her by now?" Savannah retorted as she crossed her scaly arms.

Rose stared at Savannah, narrowing her eyes for about ten seconds, neither dragon saying a single word to the other. Then, Rose sighed.

"I guess so..." She admitted.

Together, the two dragons walked over to the tunnel and then stopped. "After you." Rose said as she turned her head to the side to look at Savannah.

Grunting, Savannah then jumped up into the tunnel and then started to walk in. "Keep up with me." Savannah called right before Rose grunted and jumped up into the tunnel as well.

Without a word, Rose quickly started to follow Savannah.

BLACKOUT; END

**A/N: Please review. As for when the flashback takes place, it takes place a couple of years prior, sometime during the events of AD:HL. I'm not quite sure exactly when. **


	4. Chapter 4

Future Dragon: Rose Long (Season Six)

Chapter/Episode 4: Rayden Hunt Part 2: OCL

Lexy slowly walked down the dark tunnel that she had chosen to venture into. Stepping out of the hall and into a fork in the hall, giving her two different directions to go in. "Oh great..." Lexy muttered to herself before she turned her head to look in both directions. Finally, she decided which one she would go into; turning to the right, she walked into the tunnel that she chose.

_FLASHBACK_

_Lono was pacing back and forth outside on the grass. "Is something wrong?" Silver asked as she came out onto the grass, stopping beside him and putting her arms behind her back as Lono stopped and turned to look at her._

_"I thought you wanted to go out and do some good for this world." Silver gave Lono a small smile._

_"I do." Lono told her. "I've just been thinking."_

_"About what?"_

_"I was thinking..." Lono said as he put his clawed hands on his hips. "...That I need a team."_

_"A team?" Silver raised an eyebrow. "I don't think you need a team."_

_"Oh, really?" Lono replied. "Think about it, Silver. One person or magical creature can't do it all on their own. There is an entire force of cops. It's not just one person. There's not just one person in charge of the Magical World, there's an entire Council. Plus, the Council has their Agents. Granted, there is always someone in charge, but help is needed."_

_"Well..." Silver said, crossing her arms. "...If you want, Lono, we have many mermaid detectives and officers that would be willing to help you."_

_"I appreciate that, Silver." Lono smiled. "But, since I'd be in charge, I'd kind of like my team members to be dragons."_

_"Have any in mind?" Silver asked as she lowered her arms to her sides._

END FLASHBACK

Meanwhile, with a nervous look on her face, Lexy continued to slowly walk down the long, dark tunnel. Finally coming to the end of the hall, Lexy turned to the left, the only way that the tunnel would allow her to go.

Lexy slowly started to walk down the hall, however, unlike the one that she had just passed through, this hall was a lot darker.

Looking down, Lexy held up one of her clawed hands and blew a fireball into it. Then, holding it out, Lecy could see in front of her. However, she gasped when she saw that right in front of her, seemed to be a small pit in-between the cold floor that she was standing on. That pit was filled with trash.

Her eyes wide, Lexy could only stare in fear as she slowly lowered her hand.

_FLASHBACK_

_In her bathroom, Lexy ran her soapy, human hands through the water that came out of the faucet, over the sink. Grunting, Lexy scrubbed her palms as thoroughly as she could before she grunted again, starting to scrub the back of her hands._

_Breathing heavily, Lexy turned off the water and then stepped away, turning to the side and drying her hands on the towel on the wall. Then, she turned and walked toward the door, opening and stepping outside._

_Then, Lexy closed the door and started to walk away from the bathroom. However, after only four steps, Lexy's eyes widened and she stopped. Turning around, Lexy hurried back over to her door and stopped in front of it._

_Then, Lexy opened the door to the bathroom, only to close it again without going inside. Lexy then tried to pull her hand away, but she quickly clamped back down on the knob, opening the door and then closing it once more. An anxious look on her face, Lexy opened the door again and then closed it again._

_LINE BREAK_

_Inside his room in Mermaid City, Lono was lying on his bed, staring up at the ceiling, a grin slowly spreading on to his face._

_LINE BREAK_

_Silver was sitting in her chair, typing on her old laptop. However, when she heard the sound of a large door closing, she looked up to see Lono walking into the room, a smile on his face._

_"Can I help you, Lono?" Silver asked._

_"Actually, I just wanted to tell you that I thought up someone who might be willing to be part of my team..." Lono said as he walked further into the room._

_"Who?"_

_"She's a young dragon that I met the day I came here, right before I met and rescued Addison." Lono said as he stopped right in front of Silver, putting his clawed hands on his hips._

_"Do you really think that she would be willing to help?" Silver asked._

_"If she's not, I could always guilt her into it..." Lono shrugged._

_"Lono..."_

_"What?" Lono smiled sheepishly. "I rescued her from two humans. Who knows? She might be willing to return the favor."_

_"Well, I certainly hope so." Silver smiled._

_"Me too."_

_"Do you know where she lives?" Silver asked._

_"Actually, I don't." Lono said. "I was wondering if you could help me out with that."_

_"How could I?" Silver asked. "I don't know New York like the back of my hand. I don't know Manhattan like the back of my hand."_

_"Well, I just thought that since you had the technology..." Lono said as he pointed at the laptop."...That maybe you could do some investigating."_

_"No." Silver shook her head once. "If she lived here in Mermaid City, I could do that. I can't if it's the outside world. Sorry, Lono."_

_LINE BREAK_

_"So, it looks like my only choices are to either forget about this young dragon..." Lono said to himself as he walked along the grass with Silver at his side. "...Or to go out and look for her. Couldn't be too hard, right?"_

_"Well, if you feel that she really is someone who can help you..." Silver replied. "...Then I guess my advice is to do what you think you should. Maybe you can check where you first met her. Maybe she lives nearby."_

_"Maybe..." Lono replied._

_LINE BREAK_

_Sometime later, Lono was flying in the air, heading toward the area where he had first found Lexy. "Okay, not much farther now..." Lono said quietly to himself._

_A short time later, Lono swooped down and landed in the street where he had first found Lexy being attacked by the two humans._

_Looking in both directions, Lono looked to see if the girl could possibly be around. With a sigh, Lono turned his head back to normal._

_"I guess this is going to be harder than I hoped it would be..."_

BLACKOUT; COMMERCIAL BREAK

BACK TO THE STORY/SHOW

_Narrowing his eyes, Lono reverted to his human form. "I guess there is only one thing that I can do now."_

_LINE BREAK_

_Standing in front of someone's house, Lono took a deep breath before he started to walk up the steps that led to the door. Finally reaching the door, Lono reached up and knocked twice. Then, he lowered his hand and waited._

_Seconds later, the door opened and a mean looking man, wearing nothing but a tank top and boxer shorts appeared. "What?"_

_"Hello." Lono smiled at the man. "I know that this is going to sound weird, but I was wondering if you could tell me if you've seen a dragon girl."_

_"A dragon girl?"_

_"Yes." Lono nodded his head. "She'd be in her human form. She's young, in her teens, and has-"_

_"Why would you want to know where a filthy dragon is?" The man growled._

_"Well, I-"_

_"Are you a dragon yourself?" The man growled._

_"Well, I-"_

_However, before Lono could finish, the man inside the house grunted as he threw the door at Lono, the door slamming in Lono's face._

_LINE BREAK_

_Inside her house, Lexy stood at her sink, grunting as she used her hand to scrub a porcelain dish under hot and steaming water._

_"C'mon..." Lexy groaned, narrowing her eyes._

_However, when the young dragon heard the sound of three knocks at her front door, she gasped and ended up dropping the dish that she was trying to clean, which broke in half as it hit the sink._

_"Oh great..." Lexy grumbled as she turned off the faucet._

_LINE BREAK_

_Outside, Lono waited as patiently as he could while he waited. Then, the door to the house opened and Lexy stepped out onto the porch. "What do you want?" She asked._

_"Hello." Lono smiled at her. "I'm actually wondering if you-"_

_However, Lono then froze as his brain finally registered the annoyed look of the young girl standing in front of him._

_"If I what?" Lexy asked._

_"Actually, never mind." Lono smiled._

_"Then do you mind getting off of my porch?" Lexy asked. "Your feet could be dirty. You could have stepped in something bad."_

_"Actually, I think I'm okay." Lono said. "I actually flew here. You may not recognize me, but you might if I went into my dragon form."_

_"Why don't you just tell me who you are?" Lexy asked as she put her hands on her hips._

_"Do you remember that dragon who came to your rescue the other day when you were on your hands and knees in all that trash?" Lono smiled, however his smile disappeared when he saw a look of disgust mixed with a look of anxiousness on Lexy's face; her fists clenched, she instinctively brought them to her shirt and started to wipe her hands there, even though there was nothing wrong with her hands._

_"You...okay?"_

_"Don't remind me of that." Lexy growled at him as she slowly lowered her hands to her sides._

_"Okay, then." Lono said in an unsure tone. "Anyway, that was me."_

_"That's nice." Lexy said as she turned around, starting to walk back into her house._

_"No, no, no..." Lono tried, stepping forward and reaching out, placing his hand on Lexy's shoulder. Immediately, Lexy stopped and gasped, her eyes widening._

_Lono himself widened his eyes as he saw that Lexy started to become engulfed in a bright light, and once the light had faded, Lexy was standing in her Sapphire-colored dragon form._

_Growling, Lexy reached up to her shoulder and clamped down on Lono's wrist, making Lono gasp and then yell with shock and fright as Lexy lifted him off of his feet and flipped him over her. Grunting, Lono landed on his back right in front of Lexy, who let go of Lono's wrist, allowing his arm to hit the floor._

_"No one is allowed to touch me!" Lexy roared._

_"Okay, okay, I'm sorry!" Lono said quickly as he rolled over. Then, he grunted as he picked himself up so that he was sitting on his knees._

_"Get out." Lexy narrowed her eyes._

_"Do your parents allow you to behave this way?" Lono asked._

_"I don't live with my parents." Lexy growled. _

_"Okay, look." Lono said as he stood up, holding his hands up in surrender. "Don't do that again, please."_

_"I'll do it again..." Lexy growled as she crossed her scaly arms. "...Only this time, I'll chuck you right out the front door."_

_"Look, I only wanted to talk to you."_

_"Well, I don't." Lexy told him. "I have work to do. Now, you've just given me one more thing to do."_

_"What?" Lono asked. "Throw me out of here?"_

_"No!" Lexy shouted at him. "Go sanitize my shoulder." Then, she stomped around him and made her way toward the kitchen._

_"Uh, where are you going?" Lono asked as he turned around, just in time to hear the water turn on._

_Stepping into the kitchen, Lono's eyes widened as she saw Lexy turn to the side, pressing a yellow sponge to her shoulder. "Wh...What are you doing?" Lono asked, shocked._

_LINE BREAK_

_"Alright, you have ten minutes." Now in her human form and now sitting on a chair, Lexy faced Lono, who was sitting on another chair that had a towel on it so that Lono was not truly touching the chair. Lono had a confused look on his face. "You want to talk, you've got your time."_

_"Okay..." Lono said, trying to overcome the feelings of confusion and uneasiness he had. "...Look, I'm going to start a team. Before you ask what kind, I'm going to tell you."_

_"I wasn't going to ask."_

_"Well, it's a team that protects people, magical or human, really, and prevents crimes." Lono continued._

_"We have the police for that."_

_"Yeah, but they're not out to protect you." Lono told her. "They don't like our kind."_

_"Obviously."_

_"That's why I want to create this team." Lono explained._

_"Good luck with that..."_

_"Actually, the reason I came here is because I want you to be part of that team." Lono smiled, clasping his hands together. "You'd be the very first person to join my team."_

_"Hmm, let me think..." Lexy said sarcastically as she brought her hand up to her chin. "...No."_

_"Why not?"_

_"I'm not fit out for that." Lexy told him in an annoyed tone. "I could never go out and help people. Besides, what about the Dragon Council? They wouldn't be happy."_

_"Who cares about the Dragon Council?"_

_"No." Lexy repeated. "Can you go now?"_

_"I hate to do this..." Lono said as he crossed his arms._

_"Then don't." Lexy said as she leaned forward in her chair._

_"...You owe me." Lono finished. "You owe me for saving your scaly behind the other day."_

_"I OWE YOU?!" Lexy roared, her eyes wide. "Get out!" She pointed to her side, indicating the door._

_"Why can't you become a member of my team?" Lono pressed._

_"Because I don't want to!"_

_"Does it have to do with you not liking being touched?" Lono asked as he lowered his arms._

_"Just...get out..."_

_"Tell me." Lono pressed as he leaned forward. "You obviously have some kind of issue."_

_"I don't!"_

_"Then prove it to me?" Lono smiled. "Help me out. Come on. It'll feel good..."_

_LINE BREAK_

_Back at Mermaid City, Silver was sitting in her chair, looking down at her old laptop as she typed on it. Unbeknownst to her, Lono entered the room in his dragon form, accompanied by Lexy, who was also in her dragon form._

_"I can't believe I let you talk me into this..." Lexy mumbled as the two walked further into the room._

_"Silver." Lono said as he and Lexy stopped in front of her, making Silver look up from her work._

_"Lono, who is this?" She asked._

_"This is that dragon I told you about." Lono smiled. "Her name is Lexy Feara." _

_"And..." Silver asked. "...Is she going to help you?"_

_"Yes." Lono's smile only widened while the nervous look on Lexy's face, in contrast, grew. "She's the first to join my team."_

BLACKOUT; COMMERCIAL BREAK

BACK TO THE STORY/SHOW

_Sighing, Silver used her fin flaps to walk in-between Lexy and Lono. "Glad to hear that there's going to be a room for her." Lono smiled._

_"Yes..." Silver said as she played with the key to the room in both of her hands. "...But I don't know if I should be handing out rooms like this. Maybe she could share your room with you."_

_"Hell no!" Lexy quickly said, narrowing her eyes._

_"The girl's spoken." Lono smiled._

_LINE BREAK_

_The next morning, Lexy was lying on her side on her bed in her human form. However, when she heard the sound of two knocks hitting her door, her eyes snapped open._

_Outside, Lono was in his dragon form and took a step back, a medallion in his clawed hands and a more snazzy one around his neck. Seconds later, Lexy opened the door and showed her tired-looking face._

_"What?" She asked._

_"Here, I got you this." Lono said, smiling as he held out the medallion._

_"I don't want that." Lexy growled, anger flashing in her eyes._

_"Why not?" Lono asked. "You're a member of my team now, and I just thought that-"_

_"You got us uniforms?"_

_"Look at it whatever way you want." Lono quickly told Lexy as he tossed the medallion at her, turning around. With a panicked look on her face, Lexy quickly took a step back as her medallion hit the ground._

_Stopping in his tracks, Lono turned his head to the side and saw the young dragon looking down at her medallion. "What's wrong?" Lono asked with a hint of annoyance in his tone. "What's your problem? Do you have some kind of thing with germs or something?"_

_"It's called OCD, jerkass!" Lexy shot as she quickly snapped her head up so she could look at Lono._

_"Oh..." Lono said slowly, finally realizing what was bothering the young dragon._

_"I'm not touching that." Lexy said._

_"How many times do you want me to wash it?" Lono asked, smiling._

_"Shut up..." Lexy growled._

_"Alright, alright..." Lono said as he held up both of his clawed hands. "...Just come with me."_

_"I'm not touching this." Lexy repeated, pointing down at the medallion._

_"You don't need that." Lono said as he took two steps back. "Just bring yourself. Come with me."_

_LINE BREAK_

_A short time later, Lono and Lexy were standing by the elevator, facing each other, both of them in their dragon forms._

_"What is this about?" Lexy asked._

_"I'm going to help you overcome your fears." Lono smiled as he put his clawed hands on his hips._

_"Yeah right!" Lexy scoffed as she crossed her scaly arms._

_"Lexy, you won't be able to do any good if you're so crippled." Lono said as he started to walk toward her. "I'm only trying to help you." He told her as he finally stopped in front of her. "Let me help you."_

_"You can't." Lexy said as she took a step back. "And it's fine with me if I can't help me out. You can just let me go on home."_

_"If you don't want to be here, then why did you come?" Lono asked as he crossed his scaly arms._

_"Because you talked me into it."_

_"Is that the truth?"_

_"Why else would I come?" Lexy asked as she put her clawed hands on her hips._

_"Look, Lexy..." Lono said. "...I just want you to listen to me. I believe in you. I believe that if you really put your mind to it, you can overcome your crippling fears, your anxieties. Just try..."_

END FLASHBACK

Opening her eyes, Lexy stared at the pile of trash right in front of her.

_"I believe in you, Lexy." _She could hear Lono's words in her head.

"Alright, Lono." She said before she took a deep breath. "I'll try."

Then, Lexy flared her wings and took off into the air with a mighty flap. However, Lexy flew up too high, and by the time she leveled up so she could fly forward, her back made contact with the ceiling of the hall.

Bouncing off of the ceiling, Lexy grunted. Her wings failing, Lexy flipped over in the air and fell backwards into the pile of trash.

_FLASHBACK_

_Grunting, Lexy scrubbed her hands as hard as she could while she stood in her human form. Glancing to her side, she could see the medallion that Lono had gotten her on the counter beside her._

_Anxiously, Lexy turned her attention back to her hands that were being showered by the water coming from the faucet. She had stopped scrubbing her soapy hands, but now that her attention was back on them, she resumed the scrubbing of her hands, only this time, she scrubbed harder._

_As Lexy grunted, scrubbing, she was unaware that Lono had entered the kitchen, still in his dragon form. Quietly, Lono walked up beside the busy Lexy and stopped right in front of the medallion. _

_Quickly, Lono reached down and pulled the medallion off of the counter, which made Lexy turn her head to the side to look at him while she continued to scrub._

_"You're wasting water." Lono said as he turned to the side._

_"Well, maybe I wouldn't be if you hadn't forced me to touch that blasted medallion." Lexy shot back as she turned her head back to normal. "I expect that you're here to apologize."_

_"I'm not here to apologize." Lono said. "I'm here to help you, because that's what I want to do, Lexy."_

_"How did that help me?"_

_"It exposes you to your fear so you can overcome it." Lono said._

_"What are you...?" Lexy retorted as she finally turned off the water. Then, she turned to the side. "...A failed psychologist?"_

_"Come on, Lexy..." Lono said, holding out the medallion._

_"Get that away from me!" Lexy shouted, using the back of her arm to swat the medallion out of the now shocked Lono's hand._

_The medallion flew across the room before it hit the wall. Then, it fell to the floor._

_LINE BREAK_

_In his human form, Lono wore a pair of dark blue surgical gloves as he carried a plastic bag, nearing Lexy's room._

_Finally, Lono reached the door of the room and brought his hand up, knocking four times. "Lexy, it's me." Lono said as he lowered his hand from the door. "I have something for you."_

_"I don't want it!" He could hear Lexy's angry response._

_"If you would just come out here..." Lono called back as he took a step forward. "...You might find that you won't be horrified."_

_Seconds later, the door of Lexy's room was quickly thrown open and Lexy stepped out in her Sapphire-colored dragon form, a look of anger on her face._

_"What?" She asked._

_"Here." Lono said as he held out the bag. "As you can see, I didn't really touch the bag. I'm wearing gloves."_

_"What's in the bag?" Lexy narrowed her eyes._

_"A new medallion for you." Lono told her, Lexy slowly walking toward him. "And..." He added. "...Some of these gloves. You never know...they might come in handy..."_

_"Thanks." Lexy said softly as she finally reached Lono. Then, Lono took a step back as Lexy reverted to her human form. _

_Slowly, Lexy reached out and took the plastic bag from Lono. Taking the bag back toward her, Lexy took it with both hands and opened it up, seeing that there was indeed a new medallion and a box of dark blue surgical gloves._

_"Thanks." Lexy repeated, louder this time as she looked back up and used her hands to close the bag._

_"Oh..." Lono grinned as he crossed his arms. "...And you'll find that there are metal tips on the end of each finger on the gloves. That way, you'll be able to wear them while you're a dragon." By the time Lono had finished saying this, there was a large smile on his face._

_"Thanks." Lexy said for a third time before she turned around to walk away._

_However, after only two steps forward, she stopped when she heard the sound of Lono's voice: "Lexy, one more thing."_

_"What?" Lexy asked, turning back around._

_"Think of this as that apology you expected." Lono smiled at her._

_"Okay, you're forgiven." Lexy smiled slightly._

_"I'm serious, Lexy." Lono said. "I don't condone this. I want you to work on your issues. I know you can do it. I believe in you, Lexy."_

END FLASHBACK

Lying in the pile of trash, Lexy moaned as she lifted her head up. Glancing in both directions, Lexy started to moan in discomfort before she finally opened her mouth, and in her anxiety, shouted as loudly as she could.

LINE BREAK

Meanwhile, both Savannah and Rose were walking down the dark hall. However, when both of each of their ears twitched as they heard the sound of Lexy's scream, they both stopped and their eyes widened.

"Did you hear that?" Rose asked.

"How could I not?" Savannah asked, turning her head to the side to look at her friend. "Any dragon all the way in the United Kingdom could hear that."

"That sounded like..." Rose said. "...Lexy..."

BLACKOUT; END EPISODE

**A/N: Please review and tell me what you thought of this episode. **


	5. Chapter 5

Future Dragon: Rose Long (Season Six)

Chapter/Episode 5: Rayden Hunt Part 3: Hateful Justice

Gilda was walking down the dark tunnel that she had chosen to go in. However, she froze and her eyes widened, gasping as she heard the sound of Lexy's scream. "Lexy?" Gilda called out as she spun around. "Lexy, are you okay?" She called as she slowly walked backward. Slowly turning back around, Gilda slowly continued on.

_FLASHBACK_

_In a graveyard, Gilda, a few years younger, sat on her knees in front of an upright gravestone. With a bouquet of flowers on her legs, Gilda stared at the headstone, the name __**ADDAMO **__printed on the headstone._

_Sighing sadly, Gilda blinked back the tears as she reached down and took the bouquet off of her legs and leaned forward, placing the flowers right in front of the headstone._

_"I just wanted to tell you..." Gilda said as she slowly pulled her hand back. "...That the police have given up on you. They searched for a month and haven't found anything. It's like your murderer disappeared off the face of the earth. I haven't given up, though." She said as she narrowed her eyes._

_"I'll never give up." She said. "Starting tomorrow, I'll search on my own."_

_LINE BREAK_

_The next day, the sun was starting to come down and Gilda, a disheartened look on her face, slowly approached the grave that both of her parents were buried under._

_As soon as Gilda reached the headstone, she moaned as she collapsed on her knees._

_"Nothing..." She said as she slowly lifted her head up so she could see the grave. "...I searched for almost the entire day. Nothing."_

_With a sigh, Gilda lowered her head again, staring down at her lap for a good ten seconds._

_Then, after those ten seconds were up, Gilda slowly lifted her head back up, her eyes narrowed._

_"I'm not going to give up." She said. "Tomorrow's another day. I'll do this. I'll avenge you."_

END FLASHBACK

Meanwhile, both Savannah and Rose had turned around and were now looking in the way they had just come.

"Do you think Lexy's in some kind of trouble?" Rose asked.

"Maybe she ran into that gnome." Savannah suggested.

"I don't think so." Rose replied as Savannah slowly turned around.

"Come on." Savannah said as she reached out and grabbed Rose's scaly shoulder before she continued walking down the dark sewer hall, making Rose quickly turn around to look at her. "We need to find this gnome." Savannah said.

"But what about Lexy?"

"Rose." Savannah said as she stopped and then turned around. "I'm sure that other members of the team heard her as well. They can help her, we need to get this gnome."

Sighing, Rose shook her head once before she started to walk toward Savannah. "If you say so..." She said. "...You're in charge, right?"

LINE BREAK

Meanwhile, Gilda kept walking down the tunnel that she was in, looking carefully in both directions.

_FLASHBACK_

_The next morning, Gilda moaned as she woke up in her bed, lying on her side. Pulling the covers off, Gilda slowly sat up and managed to put her feet on the ground, standing up._

_Starting to unbutton her Deep Peach-colored pajamas, Gilda started to make her way toward her closet._

_"Today's going to be the day..." She softly told herself. "...And I know just where to look..."_

_LINE BREAK_

_Flying high in the sky, Gilda looked down on the alleys that were in-between the buildings she was flying above. "Okay, where are you?" Gilda asked._

_Finally, she spotted the alley that she wanted. Inside the alley, there were several goblins all gathered around a cardboard box, several pieces of gold on the surface of the box._

_"Bingo." Gilda smiled right before she dove down._

_Seconds later, Gilda's tail slammed into the side of the cardboard box, making it fly to the side before it hit the ground, pieces of gold scattering._

_"Beat it!" Yelled one of the goblins as they scrambled to their sides and got on their feet, trying to run away._

_Landing on the ground behind them as the goblins fled, Gilda grinned victoriously, narrowing her eyes as she spotted her guess for the leader, behind the rest of the goblins. "Not to fast!" Gilda called as she lashed out with her tail, wrapping it around the leader of the goblins._

_Seconds later, the leader of the goblins grunted as his back was slammed against a brick wall. Opening his eyes, the leader's eyes widened as he saw a very angry looking dragon staring at him._

_"We didn't do nothin'!" The goblin claimed._

_"Shut up." Gilda growled, pulling him away from the wall slightly with her tail and then slammed him against the wall again, only harder this time, making the goblin leader grunt._

_"Please." The goblin uncharacteristically begged._

_"Please what?" Gilda smiled cruelly. "Let you go?" In response, she got a pathetic-looking nod from her captive. _

_"Not until you tell me something." Gilda told him._

_"Anything." The goblin quickly said. "What?"_

_"You're the head of a crime ring, right?" Gilda asked. "And don't worry..." She added when she saw the goblin's nervous facial expression. "...I'm not going to pummel you if you tell me that you are."_

_"You're lying."_

_"No, I'm not." Gilda narrowed her eyes. "I just want you to tell me if you know of any murder plot."_

_"Murder plot?"_

_"Murder plot." Gilda repeated. _

_"I don't know of any recent murders." The leprechaun answered._

_"So you are part of a crime ring..." Gilda smiled._

_"I...I don't know of any recent murders." The goblin carefully repeated._

_"The murder I'm trying to solve isn't very recent." Gilda growled. "Think back! How long have you been a member of your goblin crime ring?"_

_"A few years." The goblin blurted out, his eyes widening when he quickly realized that he had just spilled what he had been trying to carefully conceal away from his dragon interrogator._

_"Glad to see that you're finally cooperating." Gilda smiled. "Tell me about the murder plots that you know of. My parents were killed, two dragons."_

_"W...We don't go after anyone unless we have something to gain." The goblin answered with fear in his tone. "In all of my time as a goblin crime boss, I've never ordered a hit against two dragons."_

_"Never?"_

_"No." The goblin answered._

_Just then, Gilda narrowed her eyes and once again used her tail to pull the goblin away from the wall, once again slamming him against it, making him grunt._

_"How can I trust your word?" Gilda growled._

_"Would I lie in this position?" The goblin fearfully answered, making Gilda's eyes slowly widen as she took in what her captive was saying._

_"I guess you're right..." Gilda growled._

_"We don't go after anyone unless they've crossed us in some way." The goblin said. "We only whack them if they worked for us and ratted, or if they owe us dough and won't be payin' up. Were your parents part of our ring?"_

_"No!" Gilda shouted at the goblin. "They would never sink so low as to work for crime goblins!"_

_"Then we know nothin'."_

BLACKOUT; COMMERCIAL

BACK TO THE STORY/SHOW

_"Then we know nothin'." Said the goblin. Her eyes wide, Gilda pulled her tail away, allowing the goblin to slide down the wall and fall to the ground._

_Quickly, Gilda turned away and flared her wings. Flapping them, she took off into the air._

END FLASHBACK

Rose and Savannah, meanwhile, were continuing on their way down the dark tunnel.

"Hey, Savannah?" Rose asked as she turned her head to the side to look at her friend.

"Yeah?"

"Do you think it's possible that we're all just going to wander these tunnels forever?" Rose asked as she turned her head back to normal.

"Rose..."

"No, I'm actually being serious." Rose told her. "What if our target has managed to find a way out of here and this is just a dead-end search?"

"You're worrying."

"I'm not." Rose narrowed her eyes. "I'm just being intelligent."

"If by intelligent..." Savannah smiled. "...You mean 'as neurotic as Lexy', then yes. Yes, you are being intelligent."

"Okay then..." Rose continued in an annoyed tone as she turned her head to the side, the two of them stopping, Savannah sighing as she turned to the side, allowing Rose to turn to the side as she continued to talk: "...How about this one? How do we know if our gnome hasn't run into another member of the team or not?"

"We can't." Savannah answered matter-of-factly.

"What if she has and has been dealt with?"

"We-" Savannah started. However, before she could finish, her ear twitched. Both Rose and Savannah turned back to normal and Savannah held up her clawed hand, looking down and blowing a fireball into it.

Holding her hand up, both Rose and Savannah could see that Rayden was standing just a couple feet ahead of them, her back toward them. Rayden was facing a fork in the tunnel, having a choice between going in two different directions.

"Are your worries quelled?" Savannah whispered.

"Yeah."

"Good." Savannah said. "Now let's go get her."

Then, with a grunt, Savannah threw her fireball at Rayden...

LINE BREAK

Meanwhile, as she continued on, Gilda continued to look in all directions, carefully studying her surroundings. However, she failed to realize that she was nearing the end of the tunnel that she was in, leading down to a small body of shallow water.

As Gilda reached the end of the tunnel, she was unaware that there was no more floor, causing her to gasp and shriek as she fell into the water.

Seconds later, she stood up, emerging from the water, soaked and with an annoyed look on her face.

_FLASHBACK_

_The sun was starting to go down in the cemetery. Seconds later, the sound of flapping wings could be heard as Gilda landed in front of her parent's grave in full dragon form, holding another bouquet of flowers._

_Quickly reverting to her human form, Gilda took a step forward before she collapse on her knees. "No luck today." She spoke before she set the flowers down at the headstone. "I'll try again tomorrow..."_

_LINE BREAK_

_The next morning, Gilda stepped out of the house. After turning around and closing the door, Gilda turned back around and allowed herself to be engulfed in a bright light. Just as the light was starting to fade away, Gilda flew up into the air in her dragon form._

_LINE BREAK_

_Flying high in the air, Gilda looked down at the ground and as the roofs of the buildings that she was flying over._

_However, she soon passed over a building where she saw three dragons standing, cornering a young teen. Curious, Gilda dove down, landing behind the three dragons, one female and two males. The female dragon was a Sapphire-color, the first male was a Redwood-color and the second male was slightly overweight and was a Russet-color. The human was a boy of about fourteen years old and he held a spray can in one of his hands._

_"I suppose we have no choice but to let you off with a warning this time." The Redwood-colored dragon said as he pointed at the boy. "But don't let us see you doing graffiti ever again."_

_With a look of confusion on her face, Gilda watched as the three dragons turned around, Gilda now being able to see that they all wore medallions around their necks, the Redwood-colored dragon wearing a fancier one than the other two. _

_"Who are you three supposed to be?" Gilda asked._

_"That would be none of your business." The Sapphire dragon shot._

_"Now, now, Lexy..." The Redwood-colored dragon said gently as he reached up and put a clawed hand on Lexy's scaly shoulder. "...Let's be civil."_

_"Who are you?" The Russet-colored dragon asked._

_"My name is Gilda Addamo." Gilda said as she crossed her scaly arms. "And if you don't mind, I want to ask you three a few questions."_

_"What kind of questions?" The Russet-colored dragon narrowed his eyes._

_"I want to know if you three know anything about a double homicide..." Gilda told him._

BLACKOUT; COMMERCIAL

BACK TO THE STORY/SHOW

_"A double homicide?" The Redwood-colored dragon asked, interested. "No, we know nothing of it, but we'd like to know."_

_"I know nothing either." Gilda said as she lowered her scaly arms._

_"Then why are you bringing this up to us?" The Redwood dragon asked._

_"Because my parents were the victims!" Gilda snapped. "And I'm not giving up until their murderer has paid for what they did to them! To me..."_

_"Look, whoever you are..." Lexy said. "...Lono, Maverick and me try to prevent crimes and solve them, but we know nothing."_

_"R...Really?" Gilda asked, her eyes widening._

_"Yeah." Lexy said. "But we don't know anything about this. Why don't you tell the police?"_

_"The police gave up." Gilda said. "They spent too much time on the case and it went nowhere. Now the only one who can solve this is me."_

END FLASHBACK

Savannah's fireball continued to soar toward Rayden. Hearing it, Rayden turned her head to the side, gasping as it got closer toward her. "Crap!" Rayden hissed as she jumped back, Savannah's fireball missing her.

"Not you two again!" Rayden shouted as she turned to face the two smug-looking dragons.

"Now?" Rose asked.

"Oh yeah." Savannah replied with a nod.

Then, the two flared their wings. Flapping them, Rose and Savannah both jumped off of their feet and flew after Rayden.

Growling, Rayden turned and ran into the tunnel to the right. Without even stopping, both Rose and Savannah turned around the corner and went in there after her.

LINE BREAK

Meanwhile, Gilda got her foot up on the floor to the tunnel that she was about to go in. Grunting, she picked herself up out of the water and into the tunnel.

Then, she continued on her way.

LINE BREAK

Meanwhile, Rayden continued to run as Rose and Savannah flew behind her, both blowing out balls of fire at the exact same time, however, they both whizzed by Rayden's sides, allowing her to keep running.

"You missed me!" Rayden shouted as she turned her head to the side.

"What makes you think that we wanted to hit you?" Rose called. "How do you know we're not just toying with you?"

"Watch this!" Savannah said.

Then, Savannah quickly sped up and landed right behind Rayden. With a smack from Savannah's tail, Rayden was thrown off of her feet.

Grunting as she hit the cold floor face-first, Rayden quickly picked herself up and ran, just as Savannah lunged forward and hit the same spot belly first.

As Rayden continued to run, Savannah growled, narrowing her eyes.

LINE BREAK

Gilda had stopped looking in all directions as she continued on down the tunnel. To keep safe, she kept her attention to what was in front of her.

_FLASHBACK_

_"So, you know nothing about the crime?" Lono asked as he and Gilda stood, face-to-face while Maverick and Lexy stood behind Lono._

_"Nothing." Gilda nodded._

_"There weren't any clues at the crime scene?"_

_"There were." Gilda said. "The police just couldn't trace it back to anyone. Whoever did it, they did a really good job."_

_"If they couldn't trace anyone to the crime..." Lexy asked, curiosity in her tone. "...Then why don't you just give up like the cops?"_

_"We don't get it." Maverick said._

_"If the cops couldn't find the killer, then what makes you think you can?" Lexy genuinely wanted to know._

_"I have to." Gilda growled, clenching her clawed hands and narrowing her eyes._

_"I admire your dedication, Gilda." Lono smiled. "But I don't think we can help you."_

_"I don't need your help." Gilda said. "Only I can do this on my own."_

_"Well..." Lono said as he took a step back. "...Like I said, I like your dedication. It could be just what this team needs."_

_"Team?"_

_"Maverick, Lexy and myself are a team." Lono smiled, putting his clawed hands on his hips while Lexy and Maverick walked up to his sides. "You'd make a good addition."_

_"I don't think so." Gilda said, narrowing her eyes._

_"Fair enough." Lono said as he held up both of his clawed hands. However, he then lowered them and smiled as he smiled. "However, if you change your mind-"_

_"I won't." Gilda told him._

_"Just let me finish." Lono said. "If you change your mind, I want you to know where to find us. We'll be at Mermaid City. You know where that is, right?"_

_"I don't care." Gilda told him._

_Then, she flared her wings and then flapped them, taking off into the air._

_LINE BREAK_

_The sun had completely gone down and had been replaced by the moon at the cemetery and all around Manhattan. The sound of flapping wings could be heard and Gilda landed in her dragon form, quickly falling to her knees._

_"Sorry that I don't have any flowers this time." Gilda said as she slowly reached out, taking each side of the headstone by each of her clawed hands. "Once again, no luck. But I promise you..." She continued as tears started to form. "...That I won't give up..."_

_LINE BREAK_

_The next morning, Gilda was flying high in the air, looking all around her surroundings and looking down on the ground._

_Sighing, Gilda looked up and stared straight ahead. "Gee..." She said to herself. "...I wonder what's in store for me today." Sighing again, she looked down at the ground, just as she heard the clang of a can being kicked from an alley below her._

_Gasping, Gilda looked up and narrowed her eyes before she dove down, landing on her feet in the alley. Quickly walking further into the alley, Gilda looked in both directions. However, once she reached the turn in the corner and she turned around, she found that it was empty._

_Sighing with despair, Gilda sank to her knees, looking down as she wrapped her scaly arms around her stomach. "Maybe-No!" She started, but then cut herself off as she looked up, her eyes narrowed. "I made a promise just last night. I'm not breaking it. I can't give up."_

_However, she then sighed again and dropped her head._

_LINE BREAK_

_Gilda stood at her parents' grave in her human form, another bouquet of flowers in her hands. Sighing, she finished making her way to the grave and then slowly sat down on her knees and leaned forward, setting the flowers down in front of the grave._

_"I guess I've been thinking..." Gilda said, her voice hoarse from the strain in her throat as she leaned back._

_LINE BREAK_

_At Mermaid City, Lono was in his human form, lying on his bed and staring up at the ceiling. However, when he heard four knocks against his door, he slowly turned his head to the side, looking at the door._

_"Who is it?" Lono called._

_"It's me!" Came the voice of Silver._

_"Yes, Silver?" Lono called, turning his attention back to the ceiling. "Is there something you want?"_

_"There's someone here to see you, Lono."_

_Seconds later, Lono opened the door, now in his dragon form and with his medallion around his neck. However, when he saw Gilda, also in her dragon form, with Silver, he couldn't help but gasp._

_"Gilda Addamo..." Lono smiled. "...What a pleasure to see you here."_

_"Yeah..." Gilda growled._

_"What are you doing here?" Lono's smile widened with each word that he spoke. "I thought that you wanted nothing to do with us."_

_"Well, this is going to sound rather tacky..." Gilda said as she crossed her scaly arms. "...But I thought about our meeting and I thought about my chances of finding the killer. In other words, it's not in my favor."_

_"No, I don't think it is." Lono's smile vanished. "However, what I think is important to take away from this is that while you can't solve this crime, you have the chance to prevent and solve other crimes. So, what do you say?"_

_"I say..." Gilda said as she dropped her arms to her sides. "...I say I want to join your team."_

_"And I say..." Lono's smile quickly returned. "...Welcome..."_

BLACKOUT; END EPISODE

**A/N: If you've notice, yes this one was even shorter than the previous. I'm officially knocking the episode length from 13-15 pages to 11-15 pages. I basically go by 1 full page=about two pages in screenplay format (2 minutes), so 11 pages would be 22 minutes, which is the length of all television episodes that have a 30 minute timeslot without commercials.**

**Second, this series is a NIGHTMARE to write. I keep on worrying that I'm contradicting something I've already established, seeing as at first, I never intended to reveal how the members of the team joined. **

**Third, please review! **


	6. Chapter 6

Future Dragon: Rose Long (Season Six)

Chapter/Episode 6: Rayden Hunt Part 4: A Helping Claw

Rayden panted as she continued to run, Rose and Savannah both behind her, flapping their wings as they kept in the chase. Grunting, Savannah then flapped her wings harder and sped ahead of Rose, Savannah quickly landing right in front of Rayden, making the female gnome stop in her tracks.

"You've got nowhere to go now." Savannah said as she crossed her scaly arms.

"I've always got somewhere to go..." Rayden smiled.

"Not anymore." Rose said as she landed behind Rayden. "We've got you cornered." She finished as Rayden turned her head to the side.

Together, both Savannah and Rose opened their mouths and blew out a fireball. However, Rayden grunted and jumped to the side and out of the way as Savannah and Rose's fireballs hit each other, causing no damage. Grunting, Rayden started to run away from Rose, trying to run passed Savannah, however, Savannah swung her tail down to her side, cutting Rayden off and making her stop in her tracks.

"No you don't!" Savannah said.

Jumping off of her feet, Rose flew after Rayden. However, Rayden just jumped over Savannah's tail and continued to run away.

"Aw man, I thought I had her!" Savannah moaned as she turned around, Rose landing at her side.

"Well, you didn't have her." Rose said.

"Just shut up and help me chase her down..." Savannah grumbled before she started to run after Rayden. Without saying another word, Rose took off after her, running to catch up.

LINE BREAK

Arkadi slowly walked down the tunnel that he had chosen to enter.

_FLASHBACK_

_In Mermaid City, Arkadi, in his dragon form and wearing his medallion around his neck, walked out of Lono's room with Lono, in his dragon form, at his side. _

_"So, I just want to say..." Lono said as he and Arkadi stopped, the two of them turning to face each other. "...Welcome to the team." As he finished, Lono reached out and put his clawed hands on Arkadi's scaly shoulders._

_"Thank you." Arkadi said in his Russian accent. "I'll do my best."_

_"That's all I can ask of you." Lono said as he took his claws off of Arkadi's shoulders and the two of them turned around to face Silver. "Now, Silver will show you to your new room."_

_"Actually..." Silver said. "...I would feel a lot better if I didn't have to give out a new room."_

_"Then what is Arkadi going to do?" Lono asked._

_"He can share a room." Silver replied._

_LINE BREAK_

_In her room, Gilda was lying on her bed, lying on her stomach, her face in her pillow. Suddenly, the door to the room opened and Silver walked in, using her fin flaps, Arkadi following her in._

_"Hey, why don't you close the d-?" Gilda started as she turned her head to the side, only to stop as she made eye contact with Arkadi while Silver closed the door to the room. Then, the mermaid turned around._

_"Who is this?" Arkadi asked._

_"This is Gilda." Silver said. "You'll be sharing this room with her."_

_"And who it this?" Gilda asked in an annoyed tone as she sat up._

_"Gilda, this is Arkadi." Silver said. "Your roommate."_

_"Lono said that I would get this room to myself..." Gilda narrowed her eyes._

_"Sorry." Silver shrugged. "Okay..." She changed the subject as she turned her head to the side to look at Arkadi, making Arkadi turn his head to the side to look at her as well. "...This is what I'm going to have done..." Silver said as Gilda growled and fell back against her bed._

_"...I'm going to have a bed brought in for you later today." Silver finished._

_"Sounds good." Arkadi replied._

_LINE BREAK_

_Lono was lying on his bed in his human form, throwing up a baseball at the ceiling. The ball hit the ceiling and bounced back down into the palm of Lono's hand, just as Lono heard two knocks at his door._

_"Who is it?" Lono called._

_"Me!" Came the angry sound of Gilda's voice._

_"Come in." Lono said as he threw his baseball up at the ceiling, just as the door to his room opened, Gilda storming inside in her dragon form, using her tail to slam the door._

_"What's your problem, Gilda?" Lono asked as he sat up, then turned his head to the side._

_"My room..." Gilda growled._

_"So Silver placed Arkadi with you?"_

_"Yes." Gilda crossed her scaly arms._

_"Well, I'm sorry, Gilda..." Lono said as he got up from his bed. "...But I don't know what to tell you. Silver wants you two to share rooms."_

_"Tell her that I want to have my own room!"_

_"I can't do that." Lono said. "I don't own this city, Gilda. We just live here. Do you know why?"_

_"Does it have anything to do with Arkadi?" Gilda asked sarcastically._

_"No, but it has to do with Silver." Lono smiled knowingly at her. "Silver's the reason why we're allowed to stay here."_

_"No she's not." Gilda tried to say, tried to persuade herself that it wasn't true._

_"When you first came here..." Lono said as he took a step forward. "...She was the one who first showed you to your room."_

_"So?"_

_"So she's the one who is letting us stay here." Lono told her. "Gilda, I'm sorry. There's nothing I can do."_

_LINE BREAK_

_Later that night, inside the room that Arkadi and Gilda now shared, Arkadi lied on his side in his human form, facing the door of the room. However, as he heard a soft whimpering sound, Arkadi moaned as he slowly opened his eyes._

_Quickly rolling over in the other direction, Arkadi could see Gilda lying on her bed, her back to him. It was then that Arkadi saw that Gilda's body was shaking. The whimpering sounds were coming from her._

BLACKOUT; COMMERCIAL

BACK TO THE STORY/SHOW

_"Gilda?" He asked._

_Gilda did not answer him. Instead, she remained in her position. The whimpering sounds continued and her body continued to shake._

_"Gilda." Arkadi repeated, more forceful this time. Still, Gilda did not move and she remained lying on her side, whimpering._

_Sighing, Arkadi then sat up and climbed out of bed, walking around Gilda's bed and stopping as he reached her, looking down. Arkadi could see that Gilda was asleep, but her sleep was troubled. Tears were on her cheeks and her body continued to shake as she continued to whimper._

_"Gilda." Arkadi said softly, placing a hand on her shoulder._

_Almost immediately, Gilda's eyes snapped open and she pulled herself up so the two of them were staring at each other. _

_"What are you doing?" Gilda demanded as she brought both of her hands up and wiped the tears off of her cheeks._

_"What's wrong?" Arkadi asked._

_"Nothing." Gilda narrowed her eyes as she lowered her hands._

_"You were crying."_

_"Go back to bed." Gilda growled._

_"Is something wrong?" Arkadi asked. _

_"No!"_

_"Then why were you crying?"_

_"I wasn't crying." Gilda lied. "I must have had something in my eye."_

_"Alright..." Arkadi said as he narrowed his eyes. "...Forgive me for wanting to help." He then turned and walked away. "But if your crying wakes me up again during the night..." He continued as he walked around the bed. "...My tail will be going into your mouth to shut you up."_

_Hearing this, Gilda turned her head to the side and growled, watching as Arkadi sat back down on his bed._

_LINE BREAK_

_The next morning, Lono opened the door of his room and walked out in his human form. Stopping and turning around, he closed his door and then turned back around._

_However, after taking only four steps, he stopped abruptly in his tracks when he saw Arkadi standing a couple inches before him in his dragon form, his medallion around his neck. "You wanted to talk about something, Arkadi?" Lono asked as he started to walk toward Arkadi._

_"I want to talk about Gilda." Arkadi said as Lono finally reached him._

_"What about her?" Lono asked as he crossed his arms._

_"She woke me up with her crying last night."_

_"She was crying?" Lono asked._

_"Yes." Arkadi replied. "And she wouldn't tell me what was wrong."_

_"I...I can understand that..." Lono said as he took a step back._

_"Do you mind telling me what her problem is?" Arkadi asked._

_"Arkadi, I don't think I'm qualified to tell you all this." Lono said, putting his hands on his hips. "I think I have an idea, but Gilda would not be happy if I told you."_

_"And I won't be happy..." Arkadi growled as he clenched his clawed hands into fists. "...If her whimpering keeps me up every night. I want to know! Besides, Gilda doesn't have to know that you told me!"_

_"Okay, okay!" Lono quickly caved, holding up both of his hands in surrender. "I'm not entirely sure, but my guess is that it has something to do with her parents."_

_"Her parents?" Arkadi raised an eyebrow. "What about them?"_

_"They're dead." Lono said, putting his hands on his hips. _

_"How did they die?"_

_"Murdered." Lono said. "Killer still on the loose. The police gave up."_

_"Is there anything I can do?" Arkadi asked._

_"Probably not." Lono told him. "But how about this: tonight, see if Gilda gets a peaceful night's sleep. If she does, then you may not have anything to worry about. If she wakes you up again, then I'll see what I can do."_

_LINE BREAK_

_That night, inside the room that Gilda and Arkadi shared, Arkadi laid on his side, his eyes opened as he watched Gilda, who was also lying on her side on her bed, but was facing him. Instead of whimpering as her body shook, Gilda seemed to be sleeping peacefully._

_Not concerned, Arkadi slowly closed his eyes._

BLACKOUT; COMMERCIAL

BACK TO THE STORY/SHOW

_The next morning, Lono was sitting on his bed inside his room in his human form, while the human-formed Arkadi spoke to him:_

_"No problems last night."_

_"Gilda didn't cry in her sleep?" Lono asked. "Or stay awake because she was crying, or whatever happened the other night?"_

_"She was crying in her sleep." Arkadi said. "And no. She looked like she was sleeping peacefully."_

_LINE BREAK_

_Later that night, Arkadi was lying in his bed on his stomach, his eyes closed as he peacefully slept. However, when he heard the sound of whimpering coming from Gilda, his eyes snapped open. _

_Arkadi could see that Gilda was lying on her side and was facing him, and as she whimpered, her body shook._

_"Great..." Arkadi moaned._

_LINE BREAK_

_Meanwhile, Lono was lying on his back in his bed, sleeping peacefully. However, when he heard the sound of three knocks against his door, his eyes snapped open._

_Outside, Arkadi was standing in his human form. After lowering his hand, he took two steps back, just as the door to Lono's room opened and Lono stepped out. At first Lono seemed surprised, but in the blink of an eye, his expression turned into one of annoyance._

_"I'm trying to sleep, Arkadi." Lono said._

_"I apologize, but it's Gilda."_

_"What now?"_

_"She's crying in her sleep again."_

_Sighing, Lono crossed his arms. "Okay, well I don't know what to tell you for tonight." He said. "However, I'll talk to her tomorrow. Sound good?"_

_"Okay, but-"_

_"Goodnight, Arkadi." Lono quickly cut him off as he turned around, walked back inside and closed the door to his room._

_LINE BREAK_

_The next morning, Gilda opened the door of her room and stepped outside, only to gasp and stop as she saw Lono and Arkadi both standing before her in their dragon forms. "What?" Gilda asked._

_"Your crying woke me up." Arkadi simply said._

_"Talk to me, Gilda." Lono said gently. "Maybe I can help you."_

_"No." Gilda narrowed her eyes. "You can't."_

_"Is it your parents?" Lono asked abruptly._

_"He knows?" Gilda's eyes flashed with anger as he pointed at Arkadi, who took a step back in surprise._

_"He only knows a little." Lono said as Arkadi slowly stepped back into place._

_"And how much is that?" Gilda growled as she lowered her arm._

_"Only that your parents are dead." Arkadi explained. "Nothing more."_

_"Good, let's keep it that way." Gilda said before she turned around and started to walk back into her room. Once she was inside the room, she slammed the door shut._

_LINE BREAK_

_Sometime later, Gilda was sitting on the edge of her bed, her head lowered and her arms wrapped around her stomach. She didn't look up as the door to the room opened and Arkadi stepped inside in his human form._

_Arkadi stopped and turned around, closing the door before he turned back around and started to walk towards Gilda._

_"Can we talk?" Arkadi asked as he sat down next to Gilda._

_In response, Gilda lifted her head up and turned her head to the side. "No."_

_"What if I can help you?" Arkadi asked as Gilda turned her head back to normal._

_"You can't." She growled._

_"How do you know?" Arkadi pushed as he turned his head back to normal. "Why don't you just tell me how your parents were murdered?"_

_"I don't know, alright!" Gilda exploded, jerking her head to the side. "I just came home and they were dead."_

_"You found their bodies?" Arkadi asked as he slowly turned his head back to the side._

_"Yes." Gilda answered. It sounded like, deep down, Gilda wanted nothing more than to just break down and weep. Arkadi could see it in her eyes as well._

_Arkadi watched, turning his head back to normal as Gilda did the same. However, unlike Arkadi, Gilda sighed and lowered her head._

_"I know it's not easy." Arkadi said as he reached out and gently put a hand on Gilda's shoulder. "But it seems like what you need is to not bottle up all of your emotions inside you..."_

_"If you'd just go away..." Gilda said as she slowly lifted up her head. "...Then I would release my emotions..."_

_"Why don't you just release them with me here, right now?" Arkadi asked as he took his hand off of her shoulder. "It seems to me that you need a shoulder to cry on..."_

BLACKOUT; COMMERCIAL

BACK TO THE STORY/SHOW

_The next week, Arkadi opened his eyes, finding Gilda cuddling up against his stomach. "Gilda?" Arkadi spoke up, making Gilda moan softly before she slowly opened her eyes._

_"What?" She asked in an annoyed, tired, 'why did you wake me up?' voice._

_"It's been a week since you've cried in your sleep..."_

_"What do you think that means?" Gilda replied. "That you're the perfect dragon?"_

_"No, it just means that I'm the perfect shoulder to cry on." Arkadi smiled proudly._

_"Oh, my hero!" Gilda rolled her eyes._

_"You don't have to be such a b-" Arkadi started, but he was cut off by Gilda, who spoke with slits for eyes:_

_"So what if I haven't cried in my sleep for a week?"_

_"Well, I-"_

_"What, do you think that means that you are my destined soul mate?" Gilda continued in an annoyed tone._

_"I never-"_

_"Sure, right." Gilda said rudely as she pushed herself up into a sitting position. Then, once she had turned herself around, she got off of the bed and walked away._

_LINE BREAK_

_Later that night, Arkadi opened the door to the room he shared with Gilda and walked inside in his human form. Arkadi quickly turned around and closed the door to the room. Once the door was closed, Arkadi turned around, but after only one step, he froze when he heard the sound of whimpering._

_Looking over at Gilda's bed, he could see that the girl was lying on her side and her back was to him. Her body was shaking. Sighing, Arkadi started to walk over to her bed, and once he reached it, he lied down right next to her, wrapping one arm around her and pulling her closer to him._

_LINE BREAK_

_The next morning, Gilda slowly opened her eyes and glanced around the room before she heard a moaning coming from behind her, feeling the hand and arm around her stomach tightening its grip._

_Gasping, Gilda looked down before she lifted her head up and then turned it to the side, her eyes narrowing._

_"ARKADI!" She snapped._

_Immediately, Arkadi's eyes snapped open and he gasped, pulling his arm and hand away from Gilda's stomach and jumped off of the bed and onto his feet, nervously walking backwards until he tripped over the side of his bed and fell down onto it in a sitting position._

_"What were you doing?!" Gilda asked as she rolled over onto her other side, an angry look on her face._

_"You...You were crying last night." Arkadi answered._

_"You think I don't know that?" Gilda narrowed her eyes._

_"I comforted you." Arkadi explained. "You stopped crying."_

_"Right away?" Gilda asked, loosening up on her eyes._

_"It took a few minutes, but it didn't take long..."_

_"Hmm..." Gilda seemed to take this into consideration as she pushed herself up into a sitting position. "...So maybe I shouldn't be ticked at you..."_

_"I'd appreciate it if you weren't."_

_"I guess I'm not." Gilda said softly, probably the softest tone she had ever used in front of Arkadi._

_"Good to know." Arkadi replied nervously. "Glad you're not angry with me."_

_"Actually..." Gilda said. "...Remember that sarcastic remark I made last night?"_

_"Which one?"_

_"The one about you being my soul mate?"_

_"Trust me, Gilda." Arkadi held up his hands. "You're not. I don't like you that way."_

END FLASHBACK

"I do now..." Arkadi whispered softly as he continued walking down the tunnel he had chosen to look for Rayden in.

"...And now you do too..."

_FLASHBACK_

_Arkadi leaned forward and placed a kiss on Gilda's forehead. Gilda smiled slightly as Arkadi pulled away. The two were sitting on the side of Gilda's bed inside their shared bedroom._

_"Well, I guess I am your soul mate..." Gilda said softly._

_"Guess so..." Arkadi replied, just as softly._

_LINE BREAK_

_In the dining room, Maverick, Lexy and Lono were all sitting at the table in their human forms, their medallions around their necks, eating their breakfast._

_The door to the room creaked as it opened and Lono turned his head to the side as Arkadi walked inside, followed by Gilda. Arkadi stopped walking forward as he reached the table, allowing Gilda to reach his side._

_"You're a little late..." Lono said. "...But I'm sure dinner hasn't gone cold for the two of you."_

_"Lono..." Arkadi said after Lono turned his attention back to his food, making Lono turn his head back to the side._

_"Yeah?"_

_"Gilda thinks I've been a big help with her emotional problems." Arkadi said, making Gilda scowl._

_"Good for you." Lono said._

_"We're...We're together now." Arkadi announced._

END FLASHBACK

By this point, Arkadi had reached the end of his tunnel. However, instead of stepping down into shallow water, he walked into an intersecting hall.

Turning to the side, Arkadi looked down the dark hall. However, before he could start to move forward, his ear twitched as he heard the sound of feet running up to him from behind him.

"The gnome..." He whispered.

He then started to turn around, but before he could fully turn around, he grunted as something slammed into him, making him tip over...

BLACKOUT; END EPISODE

**A/N: Please review!**


	7. Chapter 7

Future Dragon: Rose Long (Season Six)

Chapter/Episode 7: Rayden Hunt Part 5: Dragon Gaining

Immediately, Arkadi lashed out, falling forward and on top of someone. "I've got you now, gnome!" He declared. Breathing heavily as he held his catch down on the cold grown by their wrists, he gasped when he found that he was pinning down a very angry looking Lista.

"Lista?"

"Get. Off. Of. Me."

"Sorry, sorry..." Arkadi said as he quickly pulled his hands off of Lista's wrists. Then, Arkadi stood up and stepped away while Lista picked herself up as quickly as he could.

"I'm not weak." Lista told him as she narrowed her eyes.

"I never said that you were." Arkadi said.

"Don't think that because I'm-"

"Lista, I said that I never said you were weak." Arkadi told her, putting his clawed hands on his hips. "I mean it."

"Why did you tackle me, you moron?" Lista asked. "I saw you and I tried to catch up with you."

"I thought you were the gnome."

"Am I the size of a bloody GNOME?!" Lista exploded.

"Is this the tunnel you chose?" Arkadi changed the subject as he turned around. "It doesn't look like it."

"No." Lista replied before she grunted, getting up on her feet. Then, she walked over to Arkadi's side, making Arkadi turn his head to the side as Lista spoke, crossing her scaly arms: "My tunnel broke off into this one. I had been walking down it for a while before I finally saw you."

"This sewage system is just plain bizarre." Arkadi said as he turned his head back to normal.

"Well, I'll admit that I had no idea that sewer systems worked like this." Lista said. "Come on." She finished as she started to walk forward. Without another word, Arkadi removed his clawed hands from his hips and started to follow his fellow team member.

LINE BREAK

Meanwhile, Cherri stood in Maverick's room, her back to Maverick. However, when she heard him moan, her eyes widened and she spun around, watching as Maverick opened his eyes. Maverick then moaned as he slowly turned his head to the side, looking at the now smiling Cherri.

"Cherri?"

"Hey." Cherri said. "How are you feeling?"

"What happened?" Maverick asked in a weak voice.

"You got smacked in the head with a heavy bag of gold."

"Am I dying?" Maverick managed to joke, a small smile on his face.

"You have a concussion." Cherri didn't feel like playing around, although the smile on her face would have fooled just about anyone. "You should be fine, though. I suggest you get some rest."

"Alright, Doctor Cherri." Maverick slowly turned his head back to normal.

"Actually, it was Silver who checked you over." Cherri said. "Okay, I'll just leave you alone." Then, Cherri turned around and started to walk away, while Maverick slowly closed his eyes, trying to get the rest he needed.

_FLASHBACK_

_Maverick, in his dragon form, waited outside the main hall on the Island of Draco with a rather nervous look on his face. _

_Seconds later, the door opened and Maverick's dragon master walked out. His dragon master was Banana Yellow-colored and was female, with long black hair._

_"What did they say?" Maverick asked nervously._

_"They said..." His dragon master replied. "...That you need to get into shape."_

_"But why do they have such a problem with this?" Maverick asked as he turned around, starting to walk alongside his master._

_"Because you are not in the shape that is required to be a dragon."_

_"I didn't even know that they had criteria for how much dragons could weigh."_

_"Look..." His dragon master said as she walked in front of him and then turned around, cutting her dragon pupil off from stepping forward. "...It's what the Dragon Council has decided. You may not like it, but that's life and I'm sorry that life is the way it is. We all wish that it was easier."_

_"I just don't understand why they have such a problem with my size."_

_"It's not just that, Maverick." His Dragon Master said as she brought a clawed hand up and brushed it through her hair. "It's also your pension for laziness that they're not happy about."_

_"They can't change that." Maverick insisted as he crossed his scaly arms._

_"Well, they'll be damned if they don't try." Maverick's Dragon Master replied as she brought her clawed hand down and away from her head._

_"How are they going to do that?"_

_"Starting tomorrow..." His dragon master answered. "...You're going on a diet and I'm taking you for a very long flight."_

_LINE BREAK_

_Early the next morning, just as the sun was rising, Maverick's Dragon Master was standing on top of the Empire State Building, her arms behind her back as she waited patiently. _

_Soon enough, she could hear the sound of panting. The sound of panting was followed by Maverick flying up and landing on the Empire State Building._

_"Right on time...just barely..." Maverick's Dragon Master said calmly as she started to walk toward her pupil, stopping right in front of Maverick, who was breathing heavily._

_"Caught your breath yet?" She asked._

_"Yeah..." Maverick answered as he took a deep breath._

_"Good, then let's get going."_

_LINE BREAK_

_A short time later, both Maverick and his dragon master were both flying in the air, side-by-side. As he continued to flap his wings, Maverick took deep breaths. Keeping up with his Dragon Master appeared to be hard work for him._

_"Glad to see you keeping up, Maverick..." His Dragon Master smiled._

_"Yeah." Maverick managed. "Do you think as a reward, you could buy me a big dinner?"_

_"Absolutely not." The smile vanished from her face. "Keep up with me." Then, she flapped her wings even harder and sped off, leaving a rather shocked Maverick, his eyes widening._

_"Oh, come on!" Maverick whined._

_Grunting, Maverick managed to flap his wings harder than he had been flapping before, helping him pick up the pace._

_LINE BREAK_

_Maverick's Dragon Master was still quite far ahead of her pupil. Behind, Maverick panted as he continued to flap his wings._

_"I hate the Dragon Council..." Maverick muttered as he tried to continue on._

_However, after only five seconds later, he froze and his eyes widened as his ear twitched, picking up the sound of whispering._

_Looking down, he could see that he was hovering high over a very tall building. On the roof of the building was a leprechaun, who was being backed up by a spotted hyena and a black panther. _

_Quickly, Maverick dove down._

BLACKOUT; COMMERCIAL

BACK TO THE STORY/SHOW

_On the roof, the trembling leprechaun gasped as he reached the edge of the building. "Nowhere to run now, leprechaun." The spotted hyena chuckled in a male voice as he and the black panther advanced. "Just give us what you owe, and we'll leave you alone..."_

_"Not so fast!" Maverick declared as he landed on the roof, right in-between the leprechaun and the two predators._

_"Who...are...you?" The hyena asked._

_"Name's Maverick." Maverick smiled as he held up his clawed hands for a fight. "And I'm here to protect this leprechaun."_

_"He's not innocent!" The black panther roared in a female voice._

_"He gambled and lost..." The hyena said as he and the panther continued to advance. "...Now he owes us money..."_

_"I...I don't have it with me!" The leprechaun managed as he shook._

_"Hear that?" Maverick smiled as he lowered his claws. "He doesn't have it."_

_"Yeah, that's because he didn't expect us to track him down." The black panther said as she and the hyena stopped moving forward._

_"Can't you just give him another day or something?" Maverick asked._

_"We've already given him a year!" The black panther spat._

_"He's not going to pay us..." The hyena said. "...He doesn't want to..."_

_"Leprechauns are cheap..." The black panther growled as she and the spotted hyena started to walk forward again._

_"If he doesn't pay us the money now..." The spotted hyena finished. "...He'll pay us with his life..."_

_"Yeesh..." Maverick said. "...You sound like the Magical Mafia."_

_"We work for them." The black panther said._

_"Okay..." Maverick narrowed his eyes as he held up his claws again. "...Then that tears it. I'm not letting you hurt this leprechaun."_

_Shocked, the black panther and the spotted hyena stopped, their eyes wide. However, both then burst into a fit of laughter._

_"That's good, dragon." The panther said as the spotted hyena continued to laugh. "You should give up a life of protecting magical creatures and become a comedian. C'mon, dragon. Just step away. We don't want to have to tell our boss that we had to either maim or destroy a dragon."_

_"You won't." Maverick smiled cockily. "I can fight you."_

_"You're no match for a 500 year old panther and a 520 year old hyena!" The black panther narrowed her eyes as her hyena companion grinned. _

_"And here I thought that your old age would slow you down..." Maverick mocked them._

_"Alright..." The black panther narrowed her eyes. "...Jackal, let's get him..."_

_Then, the two animals started to charge at Maverick. Grinning, Maverick started to hover his wings and started to hover in the air. Just as both the black panther and Jackal, the hyena, jumped up and lunged for him, the grinning Maverick grunted and spun around, lashing out with his tail._

_However, his strike just missed the panther, who roared and hit Maverick, sending him down onto the ground, while Jackal landed on the ground and continued running toward the leprechaun._

_However, before Jackal could reach the terrified leprechaun, Lexy's tail slammed into his side, making the hyena yelp as he was pushed to the side, landing on his belly._

_Meanwhile, the black panther opened her mouth and tried to bite down on Maverick's face. However, she was pushed off of Maverick and to the side with a grunt, landing on her side before she could do any harm to Maverick._

_With his eyes wide, Maverick turned his head to the side to see Lono pulling his tail back. "You okay?" Lono asked with a smile._

_"Yeah, I think so." Maverick answered._

_Meanwhile, the panther got up and turned to the side._

_"What are you doing?" She demanded as she stared at Lono, who was helping Maverick stand up. "What are you doing?!" The black panther repeated, louder this time. _

_"Keeping you from mauling this dragon to death." Lono smiled as Maverick stood by his side._

_"Maybe if he didn't prevent me and Jackal from doing our jobs, I wouldn't need to!"_

_"And what is your job?" Lono put his clawed hands on his hips._

_"Stay out of this!" The panther barked. "The leprechaun owes money to the Magical Mafia! It's our job to collect it! If he doesn't have the money, we collect him!"_

_"Well, I can't let you do that." Lono narrowed his eyes._

_Meanwhile, Jackal got up and turned to the side, his eyes wide as she saw the leprechaun standing beside Lexy, who held a switchblade in her claws._

_"What do you think you're doing?" Jackal growled._

_"This." Lexy smiled as she grunted, lunging forward with her switchblade. Growling, Jackal barked as he lunged toward Lexy._

_Meanwhile, The black panther grunted as she hit the roof again after being pushed away by both Maverick and Lono. However, when she heard a yelp from Jackal she looked up to see Jackal scrambling away from Lexy, Lexy's switchblade in his eyes._

_"Cadence, help!" Jackal shouted at his panther partner. "She stuck a damn knife in my eye!"_

_Before Cadence could react, however, Lono's tail wrapped around her neck, making her grunt as she was picked up by her neck, making her lash out with her legs and front paws. However, before she could start to choke, Lono tossed her to the side, throwing her in to Jackal, the two of them falling over the edge of the roof and down toward a conveniently parked garbage truck._

_Moments later, the two, having landed inside the garbage holding space, dug their way to the top, only their heads and paws sticking out._

_"We failed." Cadence frowned, narrowing her eyes. "We're in so much s-"_

_However, before she could finish talking, she turned her head to the side when she heard whimpering coming from Jackal. She could see why he was whimpering immediately: Lexy's switchblade was still lodged in his eye._

_"Stop your crying." Cadence barked._

_However, she was forced to turn her head back to normal when she heard the sound of the workings of the garbage truck. _

_Slowly, both Cadence and the still whimpering Jackal looked up to see that a large dumpster was being lifted up._

_"Oh no..." Cadence muttered._

_Once the dumpster was completely upside down, the trash poured out, raining down on Cadence and the still whimpering Jackal._

BLACKOUT; COMMERCIAL

BACK TO THE STORY/SHOW

_"So, are you sure you're alright?" Lono asked Maverick, who was now standing next to the leprechaun._

_"Sure." Maverick answered._

_Satisfied, Lono nodded once before he turned his head to the side, seeing Lexy walking toward him. "Are they dead?" Lono asked as he turned to the side._

_"No." Lexy answered as she stopped a few inches away. "They fell into a dump truck."_

_"That doesn't mean that they're alive, Lexy."_

_"Does it matter?"_

_"I guess not." Lono answered before he turned back to look at Maverick and the leprechaun._

_"How did you find us?" Maverick asked._

_"Purely by accident, actually." Lono smiled as he put his clawed hands on his hips, Lexy stopping at his side. "Where's your blade?" He asked as he turned his head to the side to look at Lexy._

_"The hyena can keep it." Lexy said as she crossed her scaly arms._

_"You don't want it?"_

_"It's got his blood on it."_

_"Alright, then." Lono said as he turned his head back to normal._

_"What I want to know is who you two are." Maverick said. "Do you two work for the Dragon Council?"_

_"Absolutely not." Maverick said as he pointed at the medallion around his neck. "Lexy and I are our own dragons."_

_LINE BREAK_

_At Mermaid City, the elevator doors opened and Lexy stepped out, followed by Lono and Maverick. "Nice place." Maverick said._

_"So, you just abandoned your Dragon Master?" Lono asked, turning his head to the side._

_"Pretty much."_

_"What are you going to do now?" Lono asked as he turned his head back to normal._

_"Go back home, I guess." Maverick said. "I'm going to be in a lot of trouble with the Council and my Dragon Master, though."_

_"Well, you don't have to be..." Lono answered quickly, stopping in his tracks._

_"What?" Maverick's eyes widened and he took a step forward before he turned around to face Lono. "Of course I d-"_

_"You could always stay here and join my team." Lono suggested, growing a smile. "Right now, it's just Lexy and myself. I hope to get some more recruits."_

_"Would the Dragon Council approve?"_

_"Probably not." Lono said. "But let me ask you this: Are you happy with the way the Dragon Council runs things?"_

_"No, not really."_

_"And what have they done to make you think that?" Lono asked. "I'll tell you: They don't deal with the problems we face. Humans don't like us, and the Dragon Council doesn't know what to do."_

_"They also don't like the fact that I'm overweight and demanded that I go on a diet." Maverick narrowed his eyes._

_"They did, huh?" Lono said as he crossed his scaly arms._

_"That's why I was out." Maverick explained. "I was exercising with my Dragon Master."_

_"Personally, I don't think it should matter if most of your weight comes from your stomach instead of your muscles." Lono said. "Personally, I think it's more important that you know how to fight. You do know how to fight, right?" Lono smiled._

_"Of course I do."_

_"Care to show me that?" Lono's smile widened._

_"What?" Maverick asked, raising an eyebrow. "You want me to fight you?"_

_"Actually, I'd like to see you fight Lexy."_

_LINE BREAK_

_Sighing, Lexy, in her dragon form, walked out of her room to see Maverick standing right beside Lono. "You want me to what?" She asked._

_"Fight Maverick here." Lono said, indicating Maverick._

_"Why?"_

_"I want to see what's he's got..."_

_"Fine..." Lexy sighed._

_Smiling, Lono took a step back as Lexy stepped up to Maverick. Grunting, Maverick lifted up his arm and threw a punch, trying to land the first blow. Quickly, Lexy jumped back, tapping her tail against the grass._

_Then, Lexy opened her mouth and blew out a torrent of fire. Grunting, Maverick jumped to the side, Lexy closing her mouth._

_Then, Lexy grunted as she swung her tail to the side, aiming it for Maverick, who flared his wings as quickly as he could, flapping them and lifting into the air._

_"Very impressive." Lono smiled as he turned to the side, crossing his scaly arms._

_Diving down at Lexy, Maverick landed right where Lexy had been standing in a squatting position, slamming his curled up fist against the grass as Lexy jumped back, once again tapping her tail against the grass as she landed on her feet._

_Grunting, Lexy lunged off of her feet, flying toward Maverick, her head hitting Maverick's stomach. Grunting, Maverick stumbled back, while Lexy straightened up._

_"You're good." Maverick said as he got his footing back._

_"You're not so bad yourself..." Lexy returned._

_"Quite impressive..." Lono agreed with Lexy as he lowered his arms and took two steps forward, both Maverick and Lexy turning their heads to the side to look at him. "...Quite impressive indeed. I think you'd make a good addition to this team."_

_"Really?" Maverick asked as he turned to the side, along with Lexy._

_"Does that mean I can go now?" Lexy asked as she crossed her arms. _

_"Go ahead, Lexy." Lono said, starting to walk toward Maverick as Lexy turned and walked back into her room._

_"Welcome to the team." Lono said as he stopped in front of Maverick._

END FLASHBACK

At Mermaid City, Silver was waiting near the elevator entrance, completely unaware that Cherri was walking up to her side from behind.

"Hey." Cherri said as she stopped at Silver's side, making Silver turn her head to the side.

"Hey." Silver returned before she turned her head back to normal. "Still no sign of Lono or anyone else."

"Maverick's awake." Cherri said as she crossed her scaly arms.

"How's he look?"

"He should be fine." Cherri said. "He's getting some rest. Look, if you want, I can stay here and wait for the team to get back. You can go back to whatever you were doing before."

"You sure?' Silver asked as she turned her head to the side.

"Positive." Cherri nodded.

LINE BREAK

Running down a dark tunnel, Rayden panted while both Savannah and Rose were flying behind her. Granted, the two of them were exhausted as well, and were both panting.

As Rayden reached the end of the tunnel, she finally stopped, putting her hands on her knees as starting to pant.

"Aha, this chase is over!" She heard Savannah victoriously say.

Straightening up quickly, Rayden turned around to see that both Rose and Savannah were landing just a few inches before her. "It's over." Savannah repeated.

"Think again." Rayden grinned.

"Where are you going to go?" Savannah tempted. "You've got nowhere to go."

"And you have no idea..." Rayden taunted as she took a small step back, now at the very edge of the tunnel, making the smile vanish from Savannah's face and making Rose's eyes widen.

"No, don't make us look in the water for you again." Savannah moaned.

"You wouldn't dare." Rose said. "You wouldn't!"

"Watch me." Rayden said. Then, she closed her eyes and fell back into the shallow water, disappearing.

"Perfect, just perfect." Savannah growled while Rose dropped her head, moaning.

BLACKOUT; END EPISODE

**A/N: Please review. **


	8. Chapter 8

Future Dragon: Rose Long (Season Six)

Chapter/Episode 8: Rayden Hunt Part 6: Official Team Member

At Mermaid City, Silver used her fin flaps to walk away as Cherri watched her. As soon as Silver had disappeared from sight, Cherri turned around and continued to stare at the elevator doors, hoping that her teammates and friends would be returning soon.

_FLASHBACK_

_"Alright, here we are..." Savannah said as she and Cherri both stopped in front of Lono's room, the door to the room closed._

_Her eyes still red and poofy from crying, Cherri turned her head to the side to see that Savannah was smiling. "...Are you ready to meet him?" She asked._

_"I guess..." Cherri said as she slowly turned her head back to normal._

_"Trust me, you have nothing to worry about..." Savannah said as she started to walk over to the door of Lono's room. As soon as she reached it, Savannah kept her smile on her face as she brought her hand up to the door and knocked twice._

_"Who is it?" Came Lono's voice as Savannah was just pulling her hand away._

_"It's me." Savannah called. "And I've got Cherri with me."_

_"Good." Came Lono's response. "Bring her in."_

_"Come on." Savannah said with a smile on her face as she turned her head to the side to look at Cherri, who after taking a deep breath, started to walk towards Savannah._

END FLASHBACK

"Brilliant, just brilliant..." Rose growled as she stood in the shallow water, slowly walking in it, looking down to see if she could spot Rayden from down below. "...I can't believe she did that." Rose continued to complain as she looked up to see Savannah sitting up at the start of the next tunnel, her feet in the water.

"Don't worry." Savannah said with a smile. "There's no way that she can get up into this tunnel with me sitting here."

Not saying anything, but with a look of annoyance on her face, Rose turned around and slashed at the water with her claws.

Unbeknownst to Savannah, Rayden was under the water and was watching her, holding her breath. However, about five seconds later, Rayden could no longer hold her breath. Opening her mouth, Rayden breathed out, causing bubbles to come to the surface of the water.

Savannah, who was watching Rose take a deep breath before she dunked her head under the water, felt her ear twitch as she heard the bubbles that Rayden was making reach the surface.

"Huh?" She asked, looking down and gasping as she saw Rayden under the water. "Rose, I found her!" Savannah shouted as she slid down into the water, quickly reaching down into the water.

"Where?" Rose asked as she quickly spun around. "Where is she?" She asked, only to gasp as she saw Rayden jumping out of the water and landing down on the back of Savannah's head, making her grunt as she fell forward into the water while Rayden jumped up onto the tunnel and started to run into it.

"Oh, great..." Rose groaned, watching as Savannah gasped, pulling herself up out of the water.

"Come on!" Rose shouted as she ran passed Savannah, making her turn around to see Rose lunge off of her feet and fly into the tunnel after Rayden.

_FLASHBACK_

_The door to Lono's room opened and Savannah walked inside, followed by Cherri, who reached Savannah's side and saw Lono sitting in his chair in his dragon form, a special medallion around his neck._

_"So, this is Cherri?" Lono said with a smile on his face._

_"You're my boss?" Cherri asked._

_"Call me Lono."_

_"Okay..." Cherri said._

_Smiling, Lono got up from his chair and started to walk toward her, stopping in front of Cherri before he spoke: "Savannah told me about how you spent your time in your cell. Your strength could serve us well."_

_"It's either that or incarceration, right?" Cherri asked._

_"Don't think of it like that." Lono told her. "So, you want to join, right?"_

_"Sure." Cherri answered. "But...are you sure that you want me?"_

_"I just told you." Lono smiled. "Yes, we do."_

_LINE BREAK_

_Cherri said nothing as she walked in-between Silver and Savannah, a key in Silver's hands. "So, I get this room all to myself?" Cherri asked._

_"Yes you do." Savannah replied with a smile._

_A short time later, the three of them reached a building and Silver walked forward while Savannah and Cherri stopped. Unlocking the door, Silver opened it before she turned around._

_"Welcome home." Savannah smiled as she turned her head to the side to look at Cherri._

_LINE BREAK_

_The next morning, Cherri slowly walked into the dining room, finding that Lexy and Savannah were the only ones inside, both in their dragon forms as Savannah gathered up the plates. "You don't have to help, Lexy." Savannah told her friend as she used both clawed hands to pick up the stack of plates._

_Nodding once, Lexy turned to exit, only to have her eyes widen as she spotted Cherri, while Savannah turned her back to Cherri and started to walk the plates to the kitchen._

_"Uh, I take it I'm late for breakfast." Cherri said nervously._

_"Correct." Lexy growled. "But Savannah saved some for you."_

_"She did?"_

_"Yes."_

_A look of gratefulness in her eyes, Cherri moved forward, finally stopping in front of Lexy, who took a step back with an angry look on her face._

_"Do you think I can talk to you, um, what's your name?"_

_"Lexy." Lexy narrowed her eyes. "My name is Lexy."_

_"Can I talk to you, Lexy?" Cherri asked. "Look, I'm...I'm sorry for trying to take you hostage."_

_"You're not forgiven." Lexy said as she crossed her scaly arms. Then, without another word, she walked around Cherri and walked towards the exit, making Cherri turn her head to the side, watching as Lexy quickly walked out of the room._

_LINE BREAK_

_Meanwhile, on the docks, Cadence and Jackal, who was now missing an eye, walked onto the dock. "This is where we're meeting her?" Jackal asked._

_"Yeah, and we're five minutes early." Cadence replied._

_"But why are we meeting her?"_

_"She wants to talk to us." Cadence replied._

_By this point, the two had reached the edge of the dock. The water started to bubble and within seconds, a transparent submarine emerged from the water._

_The top latch opened up and an escalator rose up, Addison the mermaid at the top step. As Addison reached the dock, both Cadence and Jackal stepped back, allowing Addison to use her fin flaps to step up onto the dock._

_"What do you want?" Jackal wanted to know._

_"All I want to know is how long I have to repay this debt I have to your boss.." Addison said as she crossed her arms._

_"Three weeks." Cadence growled in response. "You have three weeks."_

_"Good." Addison smiled. "I just want you to know that I'll get the money."_

_"You better." Jackal grinned. "Because if you don't, Cadence and I will get you..."_

_"You won't even get that chance." Addison said as she turned back around. "We'll meet here in three weeks time. I will have that money..."_

BLACKOUT; COMMERCIAL

BACK TO THE STORY/SHOW

_Cherri was sitting at the empty table, playing with her breakfast with her fork as Savannah exited the kitchen. As she saw Cherri sitting in Lono's chair, she froze. "Uh, Cherri." Savannah spoke up._

_Hearing the clang of a fork, Savannah watched as Cherri stood up and then turned around. "Yeah?" She asked._

_"That's Lono's chair." Savannah pointed out._

_"Then where will I sit?" Cherri asked. "Or...do you not want me to eat our meals with the rest of the team?"_

_"No, I didn't say that at all." Savannah said as she held up her clawed hands. "We'll just figure it out tomorrow." She said in a softer tone as she lowered her hands, putting them on her hips._

_"Alright..." Was Cherri's response._

_"So..." Savannah changed the subject, smiling. "...How's your breakfast?"_

_LINE BREAK_

_Lista was sitting on the grass in her human form, listening to her chocolate chip-sized ipod. Her eyes closed and with a smile on her face, Lista was completely unaware of the dragon Cherri walking up to her side._

_"Um, hi." Cherri said as she looked down at Lista._

_Cherri succeeded in getting Lista's attention; Lista frowned as she opened her eyes, looking up at Cherri. "Oh, it's you." Her frown got bigger. "What do you want?"_

_"I was actually going to ask you why Lexy seemed so angry at me..." Cherri said. "...But you seem just as angry at me."_

_"Maybe if you didn't sense the team's response towards you last night..." Lista said. "...I should straighten it out for you."_

_"You guys don't like me." Cherri said. "I understand."_

_"Well, at least you're smart." Lista said as she looked down. "We were nice to you, and you attacked us."_

_"I was scared."_

_"Any excuse..." Lista said, barely interested._

_"Alright..." Cherri sighed as she turned around, taking a step forward. "...I was wondering if you knew why Lexy was so vocal about her dislike of me this morning, but now that-"_

_"You touched her." Lista said as she turned her head to the side._

_"Huh?" Cherri asked before she turned around._

_"You touched her." Lista repeated as she turned her head back to normal and looked down at her ipod. "Learn now that Lexy hates being touched."_

_LINE BREAK_

_All alone, Cherri made her way over to Lono's room. As soon as she reached the door, she reached up and knocked three times on the door._

_"Who is it?" She could hear Lono's voice as Cherri lowered her clawed hand._

_"Me." Cherri answered as she took a step back._

_"What can I do for you, Cherri?" She could hear Lono's voice from behind the door._

_"Can we talk?"_

_LINE BREAK_

_Moments, later, Cherri was sitting in Lono's chair as Lono closed the door to his room and then turned around to face her, a smile on his face. "Like the chair?" He asked before he started to walk towards her._

_"It's better than anything I've ever had." Cherri said softly. "Except for maybe my new bed..."_

_"Well, what did you want to talk about?" Lono put his clawed hands on his hips as he reached Cherri._

_"The team." Cherri answered._

_"What about them?"_

_"They don't like me." Cherri said. "They don't like a criminal being on this team."_

_"Well, they may not now..." Lono smiled. "...But trust me, Cherri..." He continued as he reached out and put his clawed hand under Cherri's chin. "...They'll warm up to you."_

_"I was told that I made a mistake by touching Lexy..."_

_"Yeah, that was a mistake." Lono agreed as he put his clawed hands back on his hips. "We all make mistakes, though. And you know what, Cherri?"_

_"What?"_

_"Anyone can change." Lono smiled. "If they really want to, anyone can change for the better. You want to, right?"_

_"Sure..."_

_"Then it'll just take time, just like I said." Lono replied. "If your teammates refuse to accept you after they see how you've changed, then that's their problem. Just give them some time..."_

_BLACKOUT_

_**Three Weeks Later**_

_Inside a dark room, there were stacks and stacks of dollar bills and gold coins. Outside the room, two mermaid guards were guarding the door, neither noticing Addison walking down the hallway, using her fin-flaps to walk._

_"I have orders to count the money." Addison said as she stopped in front of the two guards, turning to face them._

_"You're kidding, right?" The first mermaid guard asked, raising an eyebrow._

_"You don't believe me..." Addison said, narrowing her eyes as she crossed her arms. "...Too bad. I have a job to do. Don't make me tell Silver that you're preventing me from doing my job."_

_Seconds later, the door to the vault opened and Addison used her fin-flaps to walk towards the money stacks._

BLACKOUT; COMMERCIAL

BACK TO THE STORY/SHOW

_Cherri was lying on her bed in her human form, staring at her medallion, which she held in her hands. However, upon hearing a knock at her door, she lowered her hands, placing her medallion on her chest, and turned her head to the side._

_"Yeah?" Cherri called._

_"It's just me." She heard Lono's voice._

_"Come in."_

_Just a second after Cherri said this, the door opened and Lono stepped into the room in his dragon form, a smile on his face. "How's it going, Cherri?"_

_"Fine." Cherri answered, watching as Lono turned around and closed the door. "Any reason why you're here?"_

_"I just stated my reason for being here, Cherri." Lono said as he turned around. "I want to know how things are going between you and the rest of the team. I haven't talked to you in about three weeks."_

_"Do you spend all of your time in that room of yours?"_

_"Well, there's not much else to do."_

_"Yeah, we don't learn of many crimes in the Magical World." Cherri said._

_"That's because the Dragon Council hears about them first and deals with them." Lono replied. "We never even hear about them."_

_"That sucks."_

_"Yeah, but what can you do?" Lono asked as he put his clawed hands on his hips. "Anyway, how about your relationships with the other team members? Make any friends?"_

_"Besides Savannah and Angela, they all hate me." Cherri said._

_"Have you...tried to interact with them?"_

_"Just waiting for the right moment..." Cherri said as she turned her head back to normal._

_LINE BREAK_

_Back in the vault, Addison held a small burlap sack in one hand as she dropped three bundles of money into it. Then, she reached out and grabbed two more bundles, putting them into the burlap sack._

_Then, she turned and hurried away from the stacks of bills._

_"That should do it..." She said in a hushed voice._

_LINE BREAK_

_Now in her dragon form, Cherri slowly walked alongside Lono, the two of them walking up to where Maverick, Gilda, Lista, Lexy and Coen were all gathered, talking._

_"Lono, what are we doing?" Lexy asked._

_"Don't worry about it." Lono said softly. Then, the two stopped in front of the five dragons. "Lista, Lexy, Coen, Gilda, Maverick." Lono spoke, making the five dragons turn to face him and Cherri. Almost immediately, the five dragons frowned._

_"What, Lono?" Lexy asked._

_"Do you mind if Cherri joins in your conversation?" Lono asked with a smile on his face._

_"Actually, we were just about to part ways." Lexy said as she crossed her scaly arms._

_Not wanting to make eye contact with any of the angry faces that stared at her, Cherri slowly turned her head to the side, seeing Addison walking with the small burlap sack in her hand. As she walked, Addison cast her head to the side nervously, trying to see if anyone was following her. With a curious look on her face, Cherri stared at the burlap sack that the mermaid held._

_"Cherri?" She heard the sound of Lono's voice._

_"Cherri?" Lono repeated as he turned his head to the side, seeing that Cherri was following Addison with her head. "Cherri, why are you watching Addison?"_

_"She looks suspicious." Cherri answered. Then, she started to run after the mermaid._

_"Hey, wait up!" Addison, as she walked, could hear the sound of Cherri's voice, finally stopping as Cherri ran around her and stopped in front of her._

_"What are you doing?" Addison asked in an annoyed tone._

_"Cherri!" Cherri could hear Lono's voice. Glancing at Lono, she could see Lono walking up to her and Addison, Lexy, Maverick, Gilda, Coen and Lista all with him. Then, she returned her attention back to the annoyed-looking mermaid._

_"You're kind of in my way." Addison said._

_"Do you think I can see what's in that sack in your hand?" Cherri asked._

_Before the wide-eyed Addison could answer, Cherri quickly reached out and grabbed the sack from her._

_"Cherri, what are you doing?" Lono asked as he and the others stopped._

_"Stealing from her." Gilda answered. "What else does it look like? Some people never change."_

_Not listening to Gilda or Lono, Cherri looked down and opened the sack, seeing all of the money inside. "That's mine!" Addison snapped angrily._

_"That's quite a lot of money." Cherri pointed out as she looked up from the sack._

_"There's money in there?" Lono asked._

_"Why do you have so much money on you?" Cherri asked, ignoring Lono's question._

_"Does it matter?" Addison asked as she crossed her arms. "It's mine."_

_"No it's not." Cherri countered. "You stole this, didn't you?"_

_"Why would you even think that?" Addison shot back._

_"You just hold this nervousness about you." Cherri answered. "You look guilty. Trust me, I know from experience. You stole this, huh?"_

_"She stole money?" Lono asked._

_"How much is in there?" Lista asked._

_"A good five thousand." Cherri answered, smiling victoriously. "She stole it. I know she did."_

_Addison just stared at Cherri for about five seconds with an unreadable expression on her face. However, her eyes then narrowed and she scowled. "Give it back!" She shouted as she lunged for the money._

_However, before she could grab the small sack away from Cherri, Cherri jumped back and lashed out with her tail. Her hit Addison in the chin, making her grunt and fly back, falling down onto the grass on her back._

_Then, Cherri smiled._

_LINE BREAK_

_Sometime later, Savannah and Cherri, both in their dragon forms, walked toward Lono's room together. Once they reached it, they found that the door was open; Savannah went in first, followed by Cherri. Then, the two, once again side-by-side, walked up to Lono, who smiled as he sat in his chair in his dragon form._

_"You wanted to see me?" Cherri asked as she and Savannah stopped before him._

_"I talked to Addison." Lono said. "You were right. She stole the money."_

_"Do you know why?" Cherri asked._

_"Debt." Lono replied. "Debt to the Magical Mafia."_

_"Good thing we'll be keeping her safe." Savannah said with a smile on her face as she put her arms behind her back. "She's going to need protection now."_

_"All I really wanted to tell you, Cherri..." Lono finished. "...Is that I think you did a great job."_

_A few moments later, Cherri exited Lono's room, only to stop and freeze as she saw that Gilda, Maverick, Lista and Lexy were all standing in front of her. The even bigger surprise was that none of them were glaring at her, none of them looked angry. Not even Lexy._

_"How did you know?" Lista asked._

_"About the money?"_

_"Yeah."_

_"Obviously from her time as a criminal." Gilda said._

_"Pretty much." Cherri replied._

_"Well, maybe..." Gilda said as she crossed her scaly arms. "...We were wrong. Wrong about you being a member of this team."_

_"Really?"Cherri asked, her eyes widening in genuine surprise._

_"Addison trying to rob the city of some of its money was the first crime we've had around here in a while." Lista said. "That is, unless we count you coming here and taking Lexy hostage briefly. If you hadn't been so aware, she would have gotten away with it."_

_"Thanks." Cherri said, growing a rather touched smile._

_"Basically, from all of us..." Gilda said. "...We're sorry we were so hostile to you. We were wrong about you. We...We think you're a valuable member of this team."_

_"You...You mean it?" Cherri asked._

_"Yes." Lexy said._

_"I thought you hated me, though." Cherri said. "You know...for touching you..."_

_Lexy sighed before she answered. "Just don't do it ever again, got it?"_

_"Got it." Cherri answered, still smiling._

_Then, Gilda, Maverick, Lista and Lexy all turned around and walked away, leaving Savannah to walk up to the smiling Cherri's side._

BLACKOUT; END EPISODE

**A/N: Please review. **


	9. Chapter 9

Future Dragon: Rose Long (Season Six)

Chapter/Episode 9: Rayden Hunt Part 7: Rose and Rayden

Lono continued to slowly walk along the dark tunnel that he had chosen to venture in to. Reaching the end of the tunnel, he turned his head to the side and looked down the next tunnel that he needed to turn into.

Without a second thought, Lono turned and started to walk into the hall.

LINE BREAK

Panting, Rayden continued to run down the tunnel. Casting her head to the side, she could see that Rose and Savannah were both chasing after her, their wings flapping as they soared through the tunnel via air.

Turning her head back to normal, Rayden grunted as she forced herself to go faster.

LINE BREAK

Lono found himself at the end of the tunnel he had recently entered, staring at another tunnel that gave him the option of one of two directions.

Looking in both directions, Lono prepared to walk into the new tunnel, but before he could, his eyes widened as he heard the sound of panting.

Turning his head back to the side, he could see Rayden running away from Savannah and Rose.

Turning his head, Lono followed Rayden, who ran by without noticing him. Then, Savannah and Rose flew by Lono as well, neither one noticing him either.

Narrowing his eyes, Lono ran out of the tunnel, turned and jumped into the air, flying after Rose and Savannah.

Meanwhile, Rayden's eyes widened as she reached the end of the tunnel, the only thing being the wall. Turning her head to the side, she saw that the only way to go was to the right, where there was a small tunnel before it entered into some room. Quickly turning, she ran.

Once Rayden reached the room, she gasped as she saw that it was only a room. It led nowhere. However, fortunately for her, she caught sight of a steel bar just a few inches in front of where she was standing.

Grinning with relief, the female gnome ran over to it and grabbed it.

Seconds later, both Savannah and Rose reached the wall and quickly turned, flying into the room, landing in the middle of the room, completely unaware that Rayden was standing against the wall beside the entrance to the room, the steel bar in her hands. Smiling evilly, she started to slowly move closer to Rose and Savannah.

"I thought I saw her go in here." Savannah said as she and Rose stared at the empty room with wide eyes.

"We both saw her come in here." Rose said. "Maybe there was a way out through the ceiling." Then, Rose looked up at the ceiling, finding nothing except the ceiling. "Nope." Rose said, looking down. "No way for her to get out from up there." She finished just as the steel bar was swung into the back of Savannah's skull.

"Aaahhh..." Savannah cried out as she instinctively brought her clawed hands to the back of her head while Rose turned her head to the side, watching as Savannah fell to her knees.

"What happened?!" Rose asked.

"I found her..." Savannah moaned in a pained voice. Then, she moaned as she fell forward onto the cold floor, unconscious.

Spinning around, Rose scowled as she saw Rayden drop the bar and back up. "You scum bag..." Rose growled, starting to advance.

"Don't you want to make sure that your friend is alright?" Rayden asked with a twisted smile on her face.

"And pass up the opportunity to kick your behind?" Rose asked. With a grunt, Rose then lunged forward and lashed out with her tail, only for Rayden to grunt and jump into the air, avoiding the attack; as Rose quickly pulled her tail back, Rayden landed on her feet.

"Okay, just wait!" Rayden pleaded as she held up both of her hands in surrender.

"Dream on!" Rose spat.

"Just hear me out!" Rayden went on as she lowered her hands. "You're a Dragon Council Agent, right? Or...you were?"

"How do you know?" Rose growled.

"I'm a magical creature and I know what goes on in my world?" Rayden guessed sarcastically.

"Okay, so you know that..." Rose said as she took a step forward. "...Why does that mean that I should listen to you?"

"Your parents were murdered, right?" Rayden grinned again.

"So what?" Rose spat. "That won't stop me from kicking your behind! In fact, it only makes me want to do it more."

"Would you...not want to kick my behind..." Rayden continued, still smiling. "...If I told you I knew something about their deaths?"

At this moment, the look of anger vanished from Rose's face. Now, she had a look of caution and curiosity on her face. "I would ask you how you know."

"Because, dragon..." Rayden's smile widened. "...I was there..."

BLACKOUT; COMMERCIAL BREAK

BACK TO THE STORY/SHOW

"How were you there?" Rose asked, clenching both of her clawed hands into fists. "And what did you see?"

"I'll tell you everything, dragon." Rayden continued to smile. "It could be helpful..."

"Let me guess, in exchange, you want me to let you go?"

"If you'd be so kind..."

"It depends on if I like it or not." Rose said. "Get talking."

"Well, at first I thought it was going to be a normal day..." Rayden began.

_FLASHBACK_

_Rayden was in an alley, sorting through pieces of gold and other goods, such as dollar bills, a watch and some food. As soon as she had finished separating them, Rayden narrowed her eyes as she studied them._

_"What should I keep?" She whispered to herself._

_Then, Rayden got to her feet and turned around, where there was a burlap sack. Bending down and grabbing sack, she turned back around and sat back down on her knees and grabbed the watch, putting it into the sack. Then, Rayden grinned as she grabbed the dollar bills and put them into the sack, followed by the gold coins, needing to take four handfuls just to get all of the gold into the bag._

_Taking the sack in both hands, Rayden got to her feet, slung the sack over her shoulder, turned and ran out of the alley._

_Exiting the alley, Rayden turned and started to run down the sidewalk, passing by several humans, who didn't seem to care about her._

END FLASHBACK

"Okay." Rose narrowed her eyes. "I don't want to hear about your day."

"I'm getting to the good part, though." Rayden said with a smile.

"And I'm this close..." Rose held up her clawed hand and curved her thumb and her index finger, her claws almost touching. "...To kicking your butt into next week."

"You need some patience..." Rayden replied, receiving an angry roar from Rose. Meanwhile out of the room, Lono was flying down the tunnel that he was surely going to lead him directly to Rayden.

Having heard Rose's roar, Lono landed at the end of the hall and peeked around the corner, his eyes widening as he saw Rose and Rayden facing off.

"Get on with it!" Rose shouted impatiently.

"I have to build up to it." Rayden smiled at Rose.

"But I don't have to listen to you." Rose smirked. "I can just knock you out right now and take you prisoner. Then, I can torture you into spilling what you know."

"You're bluffing, dragon." Rayden winked at her. "You're not sadistic like that..."

Gritting her teeth, Rose squeezed her eyes shut and squeezed her clawed hands into fits again, lifting them up to each side of her head. "Just get on with it!" She growled.

"I told you that I have to build up to it."

"Then make it quick!" Rose barked.

"I'll see what I can do..." Rayden told her, still smiling.

_FLASHBACK_

_Grunting, Rayden climbed up onto the roof of a rather tall building, where she would be all alone._

_Walking to the other end of the roof, Rayden looked down at all of the people outside, down on the streets._

_"Okay..." Rayden said, holding up her hand that she thought held her loot. However, her eyes widened as she saw that her hand was empty when she glanced at it._

_Quickly turning around, Rayden started to run back over to where she had climbed up, only to gasp and come to a complete stop as she caught a flash of a Redwood-colored swooping down._

_"No, don't tell me..." Rayden muttered, her eyes widening._

_Then, she ran over to the edge of the building. Once she reached it, she looked down and saw that Lono was standing right next to her burlap sack; she watched as Lono leaned over and grabbed the sack._

_"Crap..." Rayden muttered nervously, just as Lono looked up, their eyes locking as Rayden's eyes widened._

END FLASHBACK

"Lono?" Rose asked, her eyes just as wide as Rayden's had been.

"You want me to continue, right?" Rayden smiled.

"Of course I do." Rose narrowed her eyes.

_FLASHBACK_

_Lono flared his wings and started to flap them, taking off from the ground and flying up to Rayden. _

_Quickly, Lono flew above Rayden and landed, Rayden turning around as Lono did the same._

_"This your bag?" Lono asked as he dropped the bag on the roof._

_Rayden didn't answer. Instead, she just stared at the medallion around Lono's neck, her eyes widening._

_"Is it your bag?" Lono repeated, snapping Rayden back to reality._

_"Oh, yeah." Rayden replied as she reached behind herself as rubbed the back of her head nervously. "Yeah, it's mine. It's my bag."_

_"Why were you up here without it?" Lono asked curiously._

_"I forgot to pick it back up as I started to climb up here." Rayden answered with a shrug as she lowered her arm to her side._

_"What are you doing up here?" Lono asked._

_"Uh, well I..." Rayden stalled._

_"Don't you have a home to go to?" Lono asked._

_"No." Rayden admitted quickly. "No, no I don't. The contents of that bag..." She pointed at the burlap sack. "...And these clothes..." She pointed at her clothes. "...Are all I have."_

_"What's in here, then?" Lono asked as he wrapped his tail around the burlap sack, starting to lift it up off of the roof._

_"Actually..." Rayden said as she held up both of her hands. "...It's personal."_

_"You don't want me looking in here?" Lono asked as he held the bag in both hands._

_"I'd appreciate it if you didn't..."_

_"Why?" Lono asked as he pulled open the burlap sack. Then, he looked into the bag, seeing the watch, the gold and the dollar bills. As Lono looked in the sack, Rayden slowly stepped back, only to stop after just one step back as Lono looked back up at her._

_"You've got quite a bit of cash in here." He said._

_"Yeah..." Rayden replied nervously._

_"So, why don't you have a home to go to?" Lono raised an eyebrow._

_"Well, I-"_

_"Yeah, I'm listening..." Lono smiled knowingly._

_"I...I just...didn't."_

_"Or maybe..." Lono smiled, taking a step forward. "...You're nothing more than a thief."_

END FLASHBACK

"What does this have to do with my parents?" Rose demanded.

"Think about it, dragon." Rayden replied. "Your friend knows who I am and I'm telling you what I know about the demise of your parents."

Roaring, Rose lunged forward and grabbed Rayden by her collar, lifting her off of her feet and into the air so they were at the same eye level.

"Tell me." Rose growled dangerously. "Tell me now about the moment you saw my parents die. No more wasting my time!"

_FLASHBACK_

_Rayden gulped as Lono started to step towards her. "I feel it's my duty to make sure that you give these items back to the people you stole them from..." Lono said._

_Making a break for it, Rayden started to run at Lono. However, she ran around him, a look of panic in her eyes._

_"Hey!" Lono shouted as he turned his head to the side, dropping the bag that contained the items that Rayden had stolen. The burlap sack hit the roof as Lono turned around and gave chase to Rayden._

_The female gnome had just reached the edge of the building, but before she could do anything, she grunted as Lono slammed into her from behind, making her grunt as both she and Lono flew over the ledge of the building, starting to plummet down into the street._

BLACKOUT; COMMERCIAL BREAK

BACK TO THE STORY/SHOW

"And so..." Rayden said as Rose continued to hold her by her collar. "...We both fell."

"That's it?" Rose asked, narrowing her eyes.

"Yeah, what else do you want to know?"

"I want to know how that has anything to do with my parents!" Rose shouted as she threw Rayden away, Rayden grunting as she landed on her back. "Talk." Rose growled, clenching her clawed hands into fists. "Keep going!"

"Well..." Rayden said as she sat up.

_FLASHBACK_

_With a crash, Rayden and Lono crashed onto the middle of a cement rode, causing a 2008 Jeep Liberty to come screeching to a halt._

_As Lono started to rise up, while keeping Rayden trapped, Rayden managed to roll over onto her back. "Get away from me!" She shouted._

_However, Lono paid no attention to the female gnome and instead turned his head to the side, seeing the Jeep some few inches away, the door starting to open._

_"Oh, gre-" Lono started sarcastically, but he stopped in his tracks and his eyes widened as he saw an arrow plant itself into the front tire of the jeep._

_"What the-?" Lono asked himself, just as the Jeep burst into flames just as the driver's door finished opening._

_The explosion knocked Lono to the side and he landed on his back while Rayden picked herself up, staring at the fire briefly before she turned around, running away from Lono, who could only stare at the destruction with wide eyes._

END FLASHBACK

Rose's eyes were wide as she stared at Rayden as Rayden finished speaking, slowly getting back up to her feet after Rose had knocked her down.

"So, in conclusion..." Rayden grinned. "...Your friend helped cause the deaths of your parents..."

After about five more seconds of just staring blankly at the female gnome, Rose narrowed her eyes and gritted her teeth, growling at Rayden.

"Hey, you wanted to know..." Rayden brushed off Rose's angry and threatening look. "...I told you."

Snarling, Rose charged at the female gnome, wanting to do nothing other than wipe the smug grin off of her face. Rose wasn't going to let her get off that easily...

...And in fact, she didn't. For as Rayden stared at the angry dragon running towards her, her jaw dropped and her eyes bulged before she was thrown forwards, landing at Rose's feet, making Rose stop in her tracks, looking down at the unconscious gnome at her feet.

"What the...?" Rose asked as she stared down at Rayden before she looked back up, seeing Lono pulling his tail back before he finished walking into the room and making him way over to Rayden and Rose.

Once Lono reached the two of them, he slowly and awkwardly bent down and grabbed Rayden up by the back of her shirt, then he stood back up.

"Rose, I-"

"Were you there the whole time?" Rose asked, her eyes wide.

"Yes." Lono said softly. Then, he turned around and started to walk away. "Look, I'm going to go find the rest of the team. You stay here with Savannah."

"But-" Rose tried. However, it was no use. Lono had left the room and was now turning around the corner, leaving Rose alone with the still unconscious Savannah.

Sighing, Rose turned around and walked over to Savannah.

As soon as she reached Savannah, Rose turned to the side and crouched down, reaching out and grunting as she pushed at Savannah's sides, pushing her so that she rolled onto her back.

LINE BREAK

Sometime later, Savannah moaned as she started to come to.

Slowly opening her eyes, she moaned again before she rolled her head to the side, seeing Rose leaning against the wall.

"Wh...Where's our gnome?" Savannah managed.

"Lono got her." Rose answered.

"Where's Lono now?"

"He went to look for the rest of the team." Rose said as she moved away from the wall, starting to walk over to Savannah. "What about you? You okay?"

"I think so..." Savannah moaned as she turned her head back to normal. "...My head's throbbing."

"Understandable." Rose said as she reached Savannah's side, looking down on her as she reached down with a clawed hand. "Need a lift?"

"That'd be nice..." Savannah answered as she slowly reached out, grabbing Rose's hand.

Grunting, Rose turned to the side as she pulled her friend up onto her feet. However, as soon as Savannah stood, she roared in pain as she put a clawed hand to the side of her head, falling to the side, into Rose's side.

"My head..." She moaned as Rose turned her head to the side, watching Savannah lower her scaly arm. "...I feel like I'm gonna die..."

"Don't die on me now." Rose said with sarcasm in her tone as she reached behind her neck and came back holding Savannah's wrist, draping it over her shoulder. "I've got you, Savannah. Let's just take it easy..."

She then started to walk toward the exit slowly.

"Were you in this much pain after you woke up from Cherri and Joel knocking you out?" Savannah asked weakly.

"No, not really." Rose answered. "But there was one time when I was the Huntsgirl."

"Yeah, what happened?" Savannah smiled weakly.

"I lost my balance and hit my head on a headstone."

"How long were you out for?"

"Not too long." Rose answered. "I was semi-conscious as I was helped to my feet and escorted away. I was in so much pain that the only thing that I was aware of was that I was moving. I lost consciousness again once I got into the Huntsvehicle. Then, when I woke up the next morning, I was in quite a lot of pain. What really sucked was that The Huntsman took me to a meeting that morning. It didn't go over well." Rose smiled at this.

A short time later, the two reached the hallway outside of the room. Slowly, they turned to the side to see that Lono was coming back, the still unconscious Rayden being held by the back of her shirt, Lista, Arkadi, Gilda, and an anxious-looking Lexy all following him.

LINE BREAK

A short time later, everyone was flying in the air, heading back to Mermaid City. All of the teammates were lined up in a row.

To the far right, Rose flew at the end, with the drowsy, human-formed Savannah resting on her back, followed by the anxious and shivering Lexy, then Lono, who held the still unconscious Rayden in both of his claws, then Gilda, then Arkadi, and then finally Lista.

As they flew, Rose carefully turned her head to the side, looking at Lono.

LINE BREAK

At Mermaid City, Cherri, still in her dragon form, walked back up to the elevator doors and continued to wait.

Seconds later, the doors slid open and Cherri's face lit up as she saw Lexy quickly run out, running passed Cherri as Cherri turned her head to the side.

However, Cherri turned her head back to normal and smiled as she saw Lono step out, holding the still unconscious Rayden in one of his clawed hands. However, as Lono turned to the side to the side of the entrance to the elevator, Cherri's smile faded away as she saw Rose walk out with an unconscious Savannah in her arms.

Cherri's eyes were wide as Lono and Rose both reached her. "Wh...What-?" Cherri started, but before she could finish, Lono cut her off, turning his head to the side to look at Rose, who had a distressed and disturbed look on her face, almost as if she didn't want to be in Lono's presence.

"Rose." Lono said.

"Yeah?"

"Let's trade." Lono said. "You give me Savannah and I'll give you the gnome. You take her down to the prison while Cherri and I take Savannah to get a check up."

"What happened to Savannah?" Cherri asked.

"I'll talk to you about in a second, Cherri." Lono said as he turned his head back to normal.

"Can you at least tell me where the others are?"

"They're still up on the docks." Lono explained. "They're coming down right now, probably."

"Okay." Cherri said, taking a step back, satisfied.

"Alright, let's switch." Lono said as he and Rose turned to the side so that they were both facing each other.

LINE BREAK

A short time later, Lono held the sleeping Savannah in his arms as he and Cherri walked side-by-side together.

"Do you mind telling me what happened to her now?" Cherri asked.

"I don't know what happened to her." Lono said honestly. "When I found Rose, she was unconscious. When Rose came out, Savannah was conscious. On the flight back here, Savannah fell asleep."

Then, he sighed as he and Cherri continued walking. "We'll see if she's suffered any serious damage..."

BLACKOUT; END EPISODE

**A/N: Please review! Next up...Season Finale!**


	10. Chapter 10

Future Dragon: Rose Long (Season Six)

Chapter/Episode 10: Lono's Confession

The cell to a dark and damp prison cell slid open as Rose, still in her dragon form, stepped inside and tossed Rayden down onto the floor onto her stomach. Grunting as she hit the cold floor on her stomach, Rayden opened her eyes and rolled over onto her back, sitting up as Rose turned her back and stepped out of the prison cell, sliding the door shut, trapping Rayden inside.

LINE BREAK

"Well..." Silver said as she inspected the sleeping Savannah, holding an eyelid up so she could stare into Savannah's pupil. "...I don't see anything." Silver finished as she released the eyelid, resulting in Savannah's eye closing.

"She'll be perfectly fine." Silver said with a smile on her face as she turned to face the still dragon forms of Lono and Cherri.

"Do you know when she might wake up?" Cherri asked.

"I don't think there's any way to know." Silver told her. "Just take solace in knowing that she doesn't have any brain damage."

"That's good to hear." Lono said, forcing a smile before he turned to the side, placing a clawed hand on Cherri's shoulder, making Cherri turn her head to the side. "You stay here with Savannah." He said.

"And what are you going to do?" Cherri asked.

"I'm going to go check on Lexy and the others." Lono said as he took his claws off of Cherri's shoulder and fully turned, walking out of Savannah's room.

LINE BREAK

In the bathroom, Lexy hyperventilated as she stood beside a bath. Holding a bottle of hand sanitizer, Lexy quickly unscrewed the top and then dumped the sanitizer into the tub.

As soon as the bottle was empty, Lexy tried to calm herself with a deep breath as she dropped the empty bottle. Then, she turned to the side, where she had six other full bottles of hand sanitizer. Quickly, Lexy bent over and picked one of them up before she straightened back up, starting to unscrew the top.

As soon as she took off the top and dropped it, she calmed herself with a deep breath as she tipped the bottle over and poured the contents into the bath.

"Lexy?" Lono asked as he pushed opened the door, peering into the room.

Gasping, Lexy turned her head quickly to the side and dropped the now empty bottle of hand sanitizer as she watched Lono step into the room.

"Oh, it's you..."

"Are you alright?" Lono asked, glancing to the side to look at the hand sanitizer in the tub.

"Fine..."

"Okay." Lono said. "I just wanted to check up on you." With that, Lono slowly turned around and walked out of the room.

LINE BREAK

In her dragon form, Rose sat at the wall beside the door in Savannah's room, toying with the special pair of handcuffs she had made.

However, when the now human Cherri squatted down in front of her, making Rose look up. "Is something wrong?" Cherri asked.

"Kind of." Rose answered.

"Want to talk about it?" Cherri offered.

"Honestly, Cherri..." Rose said with a sigh. "...There's only one dragon I want to talk to in this city."

"Who's that?"

"Lono."

At this moment, Savannah moaned as she returned to the world of the conscious, rolling her head to the side as she slowly opened her eyes.

"How long was I out?" She asked weakly as Cherri slowly stood up.

"You were unconscious when Rose and Lono brought you here." Cherri answered as she turned around, starting to walk toward her.

"Are you feeling any better?" Rose asked as Cherri reached the bedside, turning to the side and turning her head to the side, both Savannah and Cherri looking at Rose.

"Yeah, a little, I guess..." Savannah answered.

"Rose, what did you want to talk to Lono about?" Cherri asked., turning to face Rose.

"It's personal." Rose narrowed her eyes.

LINE BREAK

In her prison cell, Rayden grunted as she got to her feet. Then, she walked to the steel door that kept her inside. Once she reached it, she grinned.

LINE BREAK

Rose continued to toy with her handcuffs as Cherri remained sitting on Savannah's bedside, her head turned to the side and lowered so she could look at Savannah as Savannah stared up at the ceiling, trying to relax.

"How is she?" Came the sound of Lono's voice, making Cherri turned her head back to normal and making Rose turn her head to the side, her eyes narrowed as she saw Lono, still in his dragon form, having entered the room.

"I'm feeling better." Savannah smiled as she turned her head to the side. "I think my head's starting to clear up."

"I hope so." Lono said as he started to walk further into the room, finally stopping at the side of the bed, Cherri standing up from the bed. "If you weren't feeling better by now, I would start to fear that Silver was wrong about you." Lono said.

"What did Silver say about me?"

"You're going to be fine." Cherri relayed as she turned around. "No brain damage, no ill side effects from taking that hit to the head."

"Even better news..." Savannah continued to smile.

"Why don't you get some rest?" Lono advised Savannah. "Cherri, you look after her."

"Okay." Cherri replied.

"Why?" Savannah asked, still smiling. "You don't want to be here, Lono? Why ever not?"

"I need to talk to Rose."

"You can always do that here."

"No, this is personal." Lono said.

LINE BREAK

Silently, both Rose and Lono walked along the grass. After about ten seconds of silence, Lono sighed right before he and Rose stopped and turned to face each other.

"Why didn't you tell me?" Rose asked, disappointment and anger in her tone. "You lied to me..."

"I didn't lie, Rose." Lono answered. "I never lied to you. Ever."

"Why didn't you tell me?" Rose repeated.

"I tried to, Rose." Lono told her gently. "I really did try."

"So, it's true then?"

"What?"

"It's true?" Rose repeated. "I actually hoped that you would tell me that that scum bag was lying to me. She made the entire thing up."

"Rose, that's not a logical thought." Lono told her. "Look, let me tell you...my side of the story..."

BLACKOUT; COMMERCIAL

BACK TO THE STORY/SHOW

"You're side of the story?" Rose asked. "Is that going to be any different than the gnome's side?"

"Do you want to find out?"

_FLASHBACK_

_In his dragon form, and with his medallion dangling around his neck, Lono walked along the grass._

_"Hey, Lono." Cherri said as she walked up to him, in her human form. "Where you going?" She asked as she stopped in front of him._

_"I'm going out." He answered simply._

_"When are you going to be back?" Cherri asked. "Savannah should be back pretty soon. Any minute in fact."_

_"In that case..." Lono smiled. "...Why don't you tell her that I'm out. I should be back fairly soon."_

_"I can do that." Cherri nodded._

_"I know you can." Lono's smile widened. Then, he walked around Cherri and continued on his way._

_LINE BREAK_

_A short time later, Lono was flapping his wings as he flew in the air, looking in all directions, hoping to find something._

_LINE BREAK_

_Sometime later, Lono was flying over the roof of the buildings, looking in both ways to his side. As he flew over an alley, he looked down and spotted a burlap sack._

_"Hmm..." Lono narrowed his eyes. Then, he quickly dove down, landing right next to the sack. _

_"...Wonder who this belongs to..." Lono wondered out loud before he leaned over and picked up the sack._

_Straightening up, Lono decided to look up, only to see Rayden standing on the roof._

_As he saw her eyes widening, Lono started to flap his wings and he lifted off of the ground, flying up toward the roof._

_Quickly, Lono flew above Rayden and landed, Rayden turning around as Lono did the same._

_"This your bag?" Lono asked as he dropped the bag on the roof._

_Rayden didn't answer. Instead, she just stared at the medallion around Lono's neck, her eyes widening._

_"Is it your bag?" Lono repeated, snapping Rayden back to reality._

_"Oh, yeah." Rayden replied as she reached behind herself as rubbed the back of her head nervously. "Yeah, it's mine. It's my bag."_

_"Why were you up here without it?" Lono asked curiously._

_"I forgot to pick it back up as I started to climb up here." Rayden answered with a shrug as she lowered her arm to her side._

_"What are you doing up here?" Lono asked._

_"Uh, well I..." Rayden stalled._

_"Don't you have a home to go to?" Lono asked._

_"No." Rayden admitted quickly. "No, no I don't. The contents of that bag..." She pointed at the burlap sack. "...And these clothes..." She pointed at her clothes. "...Are all I have."_

_"What's in here, then?" Lono asked as he wrapped his tail around the burlap sack, starting to lift it up off of the roof._

_"Actually..." Rayden said as she held up both of her hands. "...It's personal."_

_"You don't want me looking in here?" Lono asked as he held the bag in both hands._

_"I'd appreciate it if you didn't..."_

_"Why?" Lono asked as he pulled open the burlap sack. Then, he looked into the bag, seeing the watch, the gold and the dollar bills. As Lono looked in the sack, Rayden slowly stepped back, only to stop after just one step back as Lono looked back up at her._

_"You've got quite a bit of cash in here." He said._

_"Yeah..." Rayden replied nervously._

_"So, why don't you have a home to go to?" Lono raised an eyebrow._

_"Well, I-"_

_"Yeah, I'm listening..." Lono smiled knowingly._

_"I...I just...didn't."_

_"Or maybe..." Lono smiled, taking a step forward. "...You're nothing more than a thief."_

_Rayden gulped as Lono started to step towards her. "I feel it's my duty to make sure that you give these items back to the people you stole them from..." Lono said._

_Making a break for it, Rayden started to run at Lono. However, she ran around him, a look of panic in her eyes._

_"Hey!" Lono shouted as he turned his head to the side, dropping the bag that contained the items that Rayden had stolen. The burlap sack hit the roof as Lono turned around and gave chase to Rayden._

_The female gnome had just reached the edge of the building, but before she could do anything, she grunted as Lono slammed into her from behind, making her grunt as both she and Lono flew over the ledge of the building, starting to plummet down into the street._

_With a crash, Rayden and Lono crashed onto the middle of a cement rode, causing a 2008 Jeep Liberty to come screeching to a halt._

_As Lono started to rise up, while keeping Rayden trapped, Rayden managed to roll over onto her back. "Get away from me!" She shouted._

_However, Lono paid no attention to the female gnome and instead turned his head to the side, seeing the Jeep some few inches away, the door starting to open._

_"Oh, gre-" Lono started sarcastically, but he stopped in his tracks and his eyes widened as he saw an arrow plant itself into the front tire of the jeep._

_"What the-?" Lono asked himself, just as the Jeep burst into flames just as the driver's door finished opening._

_The explosion knocked Lono to the side and he landed on his back while Rayden picked herself up, staring at the fire briefly before she turned around, running away from Lono, who could only stare at the destruction with wide eyes._

_LINE BREAK_

_The doors of the elevator slid open at Mermaid City and Lono slowly stepped out, sadness in his eyes. As he slowly treaded onward, he stopped as he heard the familiar sound of Savannah's voice: "Lono, you're back!"_

_Lono could see Savannah, as well as Lista, both in their human forms, running up to him._

_"Did you accomplish anything?" Savannah asked as she and Lista stopped in front of him. "It would be great if you could tell-"_

_"Lono, what's wrong?" Lista asked as she realized how down Lono looked. _

_"Savannah..." Lono spoke. "...Can you come with me to my room?"_

_"Sure, but what for?" Savannah now looked confused._

_"And you, Lista..." Lono pointed at the younger girl. "...Can you find Cherri and Joel?"_

_"What for, Lono?" Lista asked._

_"Please don't ask questions." Lono told her. "Just find them and tell them to meet me in my room in fifteen minutes, okay?"_

_"Got it..." Lista said softly before she turned and ran off, leaving Savannah to turn around and start walking with Lono, heading toward his room._

END FLASHBACK

By the time Lono had finished, Rose had a distressed look on her face, as if she had been betrayed. "Is that all?" She asked.

"Yeah." Lono said softly. "That's all."

LINE BREAK

Back in her cell, Rayden put her back to her cell door and pushed against it. Grunting, the female gnome then started to walk to the side.

Miraculously, the cell door slowly started to slide open as Rayden moved...

BLACKOUT; COMMERCIAL

BACK TO THE STORY/SHOW

Rose and Lono stared at each other in silence. Lono, sensing the hurt in Rose's eyes slowly opened his mouth. "Rose, I wanted to tell you."

"Why didn't you?"

"I was going to." Lono said.

"When?" Rose narrowed her eyes, crossing her scaly arms.

"I was-" Lono started, but before he could finish, Rose jerked her head to the side, seeing Rayden running.

"Oh great..." Rose growled as she turned to the side.

"What is it?" Lono asked as he turned to the side as well, only for Rose to ignore him; instead, Rose growled as she jumped into the air, flapping her wings and flying over to Rayden, landing a couple inches in front of her, making Rayden stop in her tracks.

"How did you get out?" Rose growled, before she grunted, slamming her tail forward and into Rayden's chest, making the female gnome grunt as she was thrown back, landing in a sitting position.

"I got out easily." Rayden said as she managed to get to her feet.

"Well, I'll put you back in..." Rose growled. Then, with a grunt, she started to charge for the gnome.

Rayden herself narrowed her eyes as she made a ready pose, preparing for Rose's strike. However, before Rose could reach the gnome, Rose already having her arm and clawed hand raised to slash down, Rose was forced to stop as Lono's tail slammed into Rayden's side, throwing her to the side.

"What are you doing?" Rose demanded as Lono stepped up to her. "I had it under control!"

"And now I have it under control." Lono said before he ran off, running toward Rayden, who was just getting to her feet, only to grunt again as Lono's tail slammed into her chest again, only this time, much harder.

As Lono hovered in the air, Rayden screamed as she was thrown back far. Finally, she grunted as she landed on her back just few inches away from the bubbly barrier to the underwater city.

Groaning, Rayden started to sit up, only to grunt again as Lono's tail slammed into her chest for the third time. As Lono landed on his feet, Rayden was thrown back and hit the bubble barrier with such force that she, with wide eyes, started to go through it.

The female gnome quickly went through the barrier and held her breath as she was now in the water. Quickly, she managed to turn around and start to swim up to the surface.

As Rayden did this, Rose landed right next to Lono, looking up and watching Rayden get closer and closer to the surface. "You just helped her get away!" Rose reprimanded as she turned to the side.

Lono sighed as he turned to face her, putting his clawed hands on his hips. "That doesn't matter now, Rose."

"Of course it does!"

"No, it doesn't." Lono said. "Let her get away."

"Why should I?"

"Because we need to talk."

"Then get talking."

"Rose, I was going to tell you last night." Lono explained. "The only reason why I didn't was because I couldn't. I guess, had you not been told by the gnome, I would have told you once we got back. In fact, my original plan was to have you lead the search today."

"What?" Rose's eyes started to widen.

Without saying a word, Lono reached down and grabbed the chain to his medallion. Then, she started to pull it off.

"Wh...What are you doing?" Rose asked with wide eyes.

"Here, take this." Lono said as he held out the medallion. "I want you to take it, Rose."

"But...why?" Rose asked as she slowly opened up her palms, Lono placing the medallion in her hands.

"I want you to lead this team, Rose." Lono told her as he pulled his clawed hands away.

"Why would I do that?" Rose asked. "I'm not fit for the role of leader. I don't want t-"

"Rose, just do it for me." Lono said.

"But what about you?" Rose asked.

"Well, now that I've confessed..." Lono shrugged. "...I expect you to place me under arrest."

LINE BREAK

Cherri was facing Savannah, but when she heard the sound of footsteps, Cherri turned around to see Rose standing in the doorway, Lono's medallion now around her neck.

"Isn't that Lono's?" Savannah asked, her head turned to the side.

"Not anymore." Rose said as she walked further into the room.

"He gave it to you?" Savannah seemed surprised.

"Yep." Rose said as she stopped in front of Cherri. Then, she reverted to her human form.

"Why did he do that?" Cherri asked.

"He wants me to be the new leader of the team."

"You're joking, right?" Savannah smiled slightly.

"I wish I was." Rose said as she crossed her arms. "The only problem is that I'm not."

"Where's Lono now?" Cherri asked.

"He's in the jail in a cell." Rose answered.

"What?" Were the responses from both Savannah and Cherri.

"Why'd you put him in a jail cell?" Cherri asked.

"He asked me to." Rose answered, holding up both of her hands, not wanting Cherri and Savannah to get angry with her.

"Why would he do that?" Cherri demanded, narrowing her eyes as she put her hands on her hips. "Why would he ask you to put him in a prison cell? What could he have possibly done wrong?"

"It's not what he has done..." Rose took a step back. "...It's what he thinks he did wrong. And frankly, I'm not sure if he's wrong. Maybe...he does deserve it."

"What. Did. He. Do?" Cherri asked again.

"He played a part in the death of my parents." Rose answered.

"What?!" Both Cherri and Savannah exploded. However, as soon as they did that, Savannah moaned and brought a hand to the side of her now throbbing head.

"Rose, you can't be serious." Cherri said.

"I am." Rose said.

"What did he do, then?" Savannah asked as she removed her hand from her head.

"He...He and the gnome didn't do anything directly..." Rose chose her words carefully. "...But...But they did play a part..."

"And what part would that be?" Cherri asked, her patience wearing thin.

"He stopped traffic, therefore allowing the murders to happen." Rose came out and stated.

BLACKOUT; END EPISODE

**A/N: So ends the episode and the season. I just decided to post both episodes today. Please leave a review. Season Seven will pick up right where this episode left off. **


End file.
